Blair William & Co. IL Has $112.69 Million Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL has reduced its position in Linde PLC by 0.5%, now holding 242,007 shares worth approximately $112.69 million.
• Major hedge funds, including Scotia Capital Inc. and J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG, have increased their stakes in Linde during the first quarter, highlighting strong institutional interest in the company.
• Linde recently reported earnings exceeding analysts' expectations, with a revenue increase of 2.3% year-over-year and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, yielding 1.3% annually.

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 0.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 242,007 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,267 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.05% of Linde worth $112,688,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Scotia Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 10,112 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,709,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 3.8% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. now owns 12,132 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,649,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG boosted its holdings in Linde by 51.7% in the first quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 78,956 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,760,000 after acquiring an additional 26,918 shares during the last quarter. Aviso Wealth Management bought a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,765,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. 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 boosted their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group upped their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $518.80.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $459.41 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.92. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $467.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $457.76. 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 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.85 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

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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