Congress Asset Management Co. MA Cuts Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Congress Asset Management Co. MA trimmed its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 513 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. MA’s holdings in Linde were worth $17,999,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,066,825,000. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,672,000 after acquiring an additional 468,415 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 33,201.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $169,189,000 after purchasing an additional 410,705 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $171,607,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Linde by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,282,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $526,743,000 after purchasing an additional 347,531 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $442.75 on Friday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $358.37 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $212.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $436.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $432.75.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LIN. UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. HSBC lowered their price target on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $468.83.

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.