38,011 Shares in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Acquired by ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V.

Key Points

• ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired a new stake in Linde PLC, purchasing 38,011 shares valued at approximately $17.7 million during the first quarter.
• Linde recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.3%, with an upcoming payment date on September 18th.
• Brokerage firm Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating, with multiple firms increasing their target prices, currently averaging a consensus target of $519.63.

ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 38,011 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $17,699,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 58,312.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,590,596,000 after buying an additional 3,410,087 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $468,360,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $386,957,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $519.63.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $2.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $472.42. 939,239 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,504,921. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.52 billion, a PE ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.92. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $467.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $458.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,557 shares of company stock valued at $28,037,479 in the last ninety days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.