Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,475,664 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 65,288 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.31% of Linde worth $703,685,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Linde by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,744,033,000 after buying an additional 405,952 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,513,551,000 after buying an additional 15,187 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Linde by 7.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,365,647,000 after buying an additional 218,746 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in Linde by 2.4% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after purchasing an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Linde by 8.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $874,908,000 after acquiring an additional 160,355 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $456.44 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $471.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $452.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $217.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $395.00 and a 1 year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $490.75.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.