Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 1,714 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bridgewater Associates LP lessened its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 52.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,714 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Linde were worth $737,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 16.8% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares in the last quarter. Westport Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,292,000. CKW Financial Group purchased a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $576,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 2,191.7% in the 3rd quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 11.1% in the third quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 4,018 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,916,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $459.69 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $467.20 and its 200 day moving average is $454.55. The firm has a market cap of $218.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.90, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $396.07 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lifted their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. This trade represents a 36.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.