AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Cuts Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd cut its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,495 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 765 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd's holdings in Linde were worth $7,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 58,312.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,590,596,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410,087 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $468,360,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.8%

LIN stock opened at $465.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $464.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $454.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.75 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.

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