Linde PLC $LIN Shares Sold by Machina Capital S.A.S.

Machina Capital S.A.S. lowered its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 31.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,453 shares during the quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $611,786,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE acquired a new stake in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at about $438,525,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Linde by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,558,016,000 after purchasing an additional 719,052 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Linde by 162.9% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,097,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $543,951,000 after purchasing an additional 679,738 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 394.8% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 629,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $312,240,000 after purchasing an additional 502,520 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $580.00 price target on Linde and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Mizuho set a $583.00 target price on Linde in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Argus reduced their target price on Linde from $563.00 to $538.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Berenberg Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $553.05.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $526.55 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $488.62 and its 200-day moving average is $495.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $241.73 billion, a PE ratio of 34.99, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.67. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.52 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.34% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The business had revenue of $9.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.21 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.52%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total transaction of $4,851,808.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at $11,487,629.58. The trade was a 29.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Matthew White sold 86,833 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total value of $45,258,227.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,733 shares in the company, valued at $26,442,546.93. The trade was a 63.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Linde Profile

Linde plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and supplies atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium and specialty gases. The company also designs and builds equipment and facilities used to produce and process gases. Linde serves customers across industries including healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics and energy. Its operations span the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.