Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,280,000 shares, a growth of 5.8% from the September 30th total of 4,990,000 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,440,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock opened at $457.31 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $472.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $451.82. 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 company has a market cap of $218.37 billion, a PE ratio of 34.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. Linde has a twelve month low of $385.12 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde will post 15.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.31%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at $8,136,996. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,744,033,000 after buying an additional 405,952 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Linde by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,513,551,000 after acquiring an additional 15,187 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Linde by 7.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,365,647,000 after purchasing an additional 218,746 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in shares of Linde by 2.4% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,130,986,000 after purchasing an additional 56,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 8.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,993,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $874,908,000 after purchasing an additional 160,355 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup increased their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

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.