Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Stake Reduced by Atria Investments Inc

Key Points

• Atria Investments Inc has reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 3.6% in Q1, now holding 28,716 shares valued at $13.37 million.
• Several large investors, including Norges Bank and Freemont Capital Pte Ltd, have made significant new purchases, highlighting a growing interest in Linde, which now has 82.80% of its stock owned by institutional investors.
• Linde recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 1.27% and a payout ratio of 43.57%.

Atria Investments Inc decreased its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,716 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,080 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc's holdings in Linde were worth $13,371,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 58,312.0% in 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 boosted its stake in Linde by 34.4% in 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. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $468,360,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $518.80.

Linde Stock Up 0.3%

LIN stock traded up $1.40 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $472.89. 1,212,138 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,547,221. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $466.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $456.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.75 EPS. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Linde

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.