Banco Santander S.A. Takes $2.77 Million Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Banco Santander S.A. has made a new investment in Linde PLC, acquiring 5,939 shares valued at approximately $2.77 million in the first quarter.
• The company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the latest quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $4.03, while also achieving a revenue of $8.50 billion, above expectations.
• Linde has announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 1.3% set to be paid to shareholders on September 18th.

Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,939 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $2,765,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup upgraded shares of 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 report on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Two 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.com, Linde has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $518.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Linde Stock Up 0.5%

LIN stock traded up $2.44 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $469.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,690,929 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,571,483. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $220.31 billion, a PE ratio of 33.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.92. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $467.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $458.15.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.85 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

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.