Trillium Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in Linde PLC $LIN

Trillium Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 71,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,168,000. Linde comprises approximately 1.1% of Trillium Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Linde by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,558,016,000 after purchasing an additional 719,052 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in Linde by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,162,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,567,796,000 after purchasing an additional 373,012 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,740,541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,358,712,000 after buying an additional 64,078 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 28.6% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,624,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $805,475,000 after buying an additional 361,664 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,370,361 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $679,370,000 after buying an additional 85,360 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 50,733 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,442,546.93. This represents a 63.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total transaction of $4,851,808.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. The trade was a 29.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank cut their target price on shares of Linde from $580.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $577.00 to $591.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $560.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $542.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $553.05.

Linde Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ LIN traded up $3.57 during trading on Friday, reaching $526.06. 1,250,794 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,091,660. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $490.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $496.20. The stock has a market cap of $241.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.67. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $548.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.52 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 19.34%. The business had revenue of $9.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.21 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 42.52%.

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.