Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $2.94 Billion Stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 5.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,316,899 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 373,064 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for 0.6% of Bank of New York Mellon Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 1.34% of Linde worth $2,941,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Knuff & Co LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Austin Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 3,116 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,305,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Rockingstone Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the first quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,883,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $5.99 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $469.59. The stock had a trading volume of 2,099,467 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,970,552. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $221.05 billion, a PE ratio of 34.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company's 50 day moving average is $461.97 and its 200-day moving average is $451.76.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This 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 company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.90.

Linde 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.