Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by GHP Investment Advisors Inc.

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,029 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 32 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Trilogy Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at $286,000. Kowal Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $204,000. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 7,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,496,000 after acquiring an additional 2,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $473.76 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $366.12 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $472.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $451.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.57 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.31%.

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.