Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC cut its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 258,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,657 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned about 0.05% of Linde worth $123,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. The trade was a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $460.99 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $467.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $454.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.50 billion, a PE ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $396.07 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Linde Company Profile

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.