Mizuho Securities USA LLC Decreases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lessened its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 68.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,711 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 25,353 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TSA Wealth Managment LLC increased its position in Linde by 7.0% in the third quarter. TSA Wealth Managment LLC now owns 769 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 13,714 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,540,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,120,000 after buying an additional 926 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,060 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,320,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $200,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of LIN opened at $449.10 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $396.07 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $470.08 and a 200 day moving average of $452.72.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.