92,036 Linde PLC $LIN Shares Sold by Bahl & Gaynor LLC

Key Points

• Bahl & Gaynor cut its Linde stake by 38.4%, selling 92,036 shares in the third quarter; it retained 147,713 shares valued at about $70.1 million.
• Linde reported quarterly earnings of $4.59 per share, beating estimates, while revenue rose 9.3% year over year to $9.40 billion. The company declared a $1.60-per-share quarterly dividend.
• Analysts’ consensus rating was “Moderate Buy”, with an average price target of $553.05.

Bahl & Gaynor LLC trimmed its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 38.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 147,713 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 92,036 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $70,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth $611,786,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the second quarter worth $438,525,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Linde by 3.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,558,016,000 after acquiring an additional 719,052 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 162.9% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,097,110 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $543,951,000 after acquiring an additional 679,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 394.8% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 629,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $312,240,000 after acquiring an additional 502,520 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Up 0.3%

Linde stock opened at $521.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Linde PLC has a one year low of $387.78 and a one year high of $548.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.54 billion, a PE ratio of 34.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.67. The business's fifty day moving average is $487.83 and its 200 day moving average is $495.12.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.52 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 19.34%. The company had revenue of $9.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.21 EPS. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 3rd. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.52%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total transaction of $45,258,227.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,733 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,442,546.93. The trade was a 63.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total transaction of $4,851,808.50. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,487,629.58. The trade was a 29.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on LIN. Berenberg Bank reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Evercore raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $515.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $580.00 target price on shares of Linde and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Monday, October 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $553.05.

Linde Profile

Linde plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and supplies atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium and specialty gases. The company also designs and builds equipment and facilities used to produce and process gases. Linde serves customers across industries including healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics and energy. Its operations span the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

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