Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC Sells 1,167 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC has reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 4.1%, selling 1,167 shares, and now holds 27,165 shares valued at approximately $12.65 million.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their positions in Linde, with Capital World Investors raising its stake by 34.4% to over $4.83 billion.
• Linde recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50, which will be paid to shareholders on September 18th, reflecting an annualized yield of 1.3%.

Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,165 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,167 shares during the period. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $12,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,857,741,000 after acquiring an additional 554,480 shares during the period. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,128,233,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,925,322 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,062,085,000 after acquiring an additional 500,489 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth approximately $2,097,793,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. 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 objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Two equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $477.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The stock's 50 day moving average is $468.14 and its 200-day moving average is $459.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.97, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, 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 value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.

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