Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Purchases 1,982 Shares of Linde plc (NYSE:LIN)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Linde plc (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) by 3.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54,020 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,982 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $17,256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 24,310,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,422,058,000 after purchasing an additional 450,203 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,502,349 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,102,629,000 after purchasing an additional 159,464 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,167,370 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,821,287,000 after purchasing an additional 115,189 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 51.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,835,794 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,714,440,000 after purchasing an additional 2,646,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,657,766 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,654,399,000 after purchasing an additional 1,416,567 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.95% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $301.97 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $296.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $304.23. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $265.12 and a 12 month high of $352.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.76, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Linde (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.99 by $0.11. Linde had a return on equity of 13.41% and a net margin of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.70 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 11.9 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $1.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 1st. This represents a $4.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LIN. Bank of America reduced their target price on Linde from $370.00 to $369.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Linde from $390.00 to $355.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 16th. Credit Suisse Group began coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, May 31st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Linde from €370.00 ($381.44) to €355.00 ($365.98) and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 29th. Finally, AlphaValue upgraded shares of Linde to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.86.

Linde Profile

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Linde plc operates as an industrial gas and engineering company in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia 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.