Stiles Financial Services Inc Has $276,000 Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Stiles Financial Services Inc increased its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 628 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Linde were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $3,066,825,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Linde by 566.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $851,314,000 after buying an additional 1,558,538 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth about $420,720,000. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 104.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,672,000 after acquiring an additional 468,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 91.6% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,648,000 after acquiring an additional 463,096 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, HSBC lowered their target price on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Linde Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $478.25 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $448.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $447.10. The company has a market cap of $229.88 billion, a PE ratio of 37.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a one year low of $361.02 and a one year high of $479.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

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.