Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Argent Trust Co

Key Points

• Argent Trust Co has reduced its holdings in Linde PLC by 8.2%, now owning 6,289 shares valued at approximately $2.93 million.
• Analysts are optimistic about Linde, with nine analysts rating it as a buy and an average target price of $518.80.
• Linde recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, which reflects a dividend yield of 1.3%.

Argent Trust Co trimmed its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 8.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,289 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 564 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co's holdings in Linde were worth $2,928,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Diversify Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 2.5% in the first quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Linde by 0.8% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the first quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 816 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the first quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,883,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 20.2% in the first quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $2.44 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $469.84. 1,690,929 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,571,483. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.42, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.92. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company's 50 day moving average price is $467.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $458.15.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 42.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.