Patron Partners LLC Acquires 47 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Patron Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 47 shares during the quarter. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. First Pacific Financial bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $456.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $218.15 billion, a PE ratio of 35.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $361.02 and a 52 week high of $479.79. 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 50 day moving average price of $451.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $447.87.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.57 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. 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 report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

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.