Financial Management Professionals Inc. Has $299,000 Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Financial Management Professionals Inc. cut its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 34 shares during the quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Linde by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $575,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $951,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Holderness Investments Co. grew its holdings in Linde by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 1,863 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $765,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Mizuho increased their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, HSBC dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $468.83.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $438.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company’s 50-day moving average is $435.71 and its 200-day moving average is $433.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.93 billion, a PE ratio of 34.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.95. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $358.37 and a 1 year high of $477.71.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

About Linde

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.