Sivia Capital Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,311 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $575,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. First Pacific Financial bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 44.4% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $456.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $218.15 billion, a PE ratio of 35.44, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $451.18 and a 200 day moving average of $447.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $361.02 and a 12 month high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.57 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of 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 reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

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.