Tower Bridge Advisors Cuts Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Tower Bridge Advisors lowered its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 475 shares during the period. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in Linde were worth $1,059,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 566.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $851,314,000 after buying an additional 1,558,538 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Linde in the second quarter worth approximately $420,720,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 47,830.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $446,377,000 after buying an additional 934,123 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde in the first quarter worth approximately $210,480,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in Linde by 108.7% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $374,086,000 after purchasing an additional 408,659 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $449.10 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $470.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $452.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $213.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Linde 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.