DAVENPORT & Co LLC cut its stake in shares of Linde plc (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,556 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 112 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $2,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Norges Bank bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $2,589,853,000. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Linde by 51.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,835,794 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,714,440,000 after acquiring an additional 2,646,192 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at $504,023,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,657,766 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,654,399,000 after buying an additional 1,416,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 5.6% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 25,679,214 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $8,202,713,000 after buying an additional 1,368,221 shares in the last quarter. 77.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

NYSE LIN opened at $265.20 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $262.47 and a 52-week high of $352.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $290.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $301.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $132.17 billion, a PE ratio of 38.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.88.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 2nd were given a dividend of $1.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 1st. This represents a $4.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 67.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $355.00 to $320.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 12th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $370.00 to $369.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 13th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $390.00 to $355.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 10th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Linde from €370.00 ($377.55) to €355.00 ($362.24) and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $365.60.

Linde Profile

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Linde plc operates as an industrial gas and engineering company in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia 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.

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