Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $1.37 Billion Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 218,746 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for 1.3% of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,365,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC now owns 870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,000. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Linde by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 327,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $134,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,305 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 35.4% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,824,000 after buying an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 68,955 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,313,000 after buying an additional 10,584 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. UBS Group lowered their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $469.17 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $457.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $449.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $225.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $361.02 and a 12-month high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde 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.