Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde PLC by 15.4%, owning 68,228 shares valued at approximately $31.77 million after acquiring additional shares in the first quarter.
• Recently, several brokerages upgraded their ratings on Linde, with Citigroup raising its price target from $500 to $535, indicating strong confidence in the stock.
• Linde announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, reflecting an annualized payout of $6.00 and a dividend yield of 1.2%, with a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 15.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 68,228 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,110 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $31,770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. North Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $480.08 on Monday. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $225.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $468.28 and a 200-day moving average of $460.24.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.85 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde's payout ratio is 42.67%.

Linde Company 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.

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