Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Sells 2,018 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 61,351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,018 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $28,786,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. BLB&B Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 1.0% in the second quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC now owns 19,792 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,286,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp boosted its position in shares of Linde by 2.6% in the second quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 1,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $746,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 13.5% in the second quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 6,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,846,000 after acquiring an additional 722 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank boosted its position in shares of Linde by 5.1% in the second quarter. Ledyard National Bank now owns 5,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,505,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio lifted its position in Linde by 4.7% during the second quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 158,598 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $74,411,000 after purchasing an additional 7,093 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $429.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $201.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.58, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.93. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $486.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $466.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $464.58.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.85 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $530.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $507.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $520.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.