Callan Family Office LLC Sells 665 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Callan Family Office LLC reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 19.3%, selling 665 shares and holding a total of 2,777 shares worth approximately $1.29 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Capital World Investors and Freemont Capital, have increased their stakes significantly in Linde PLC during recent quarters, indicating strong institutional interest.
• Linde PLC reported a quarterly earnings per share of $4.09, exceeding analyst expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 to be paid in September.

Callan Family Office LLC decreased its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 19.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,777 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 665 shares during the period. Callan Family Office LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $1,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategy Asset Managers LLC boosted its position in Linde by 2.8% during the first quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 834 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 2.5% in the first quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in Linde by 0.8% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 3.0% in the first quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 816 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockingstone Advisors LLC raised its stake in Linde by 0.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded up $2.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $480.08. 1,951,307 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,083,887. The company has a market cap of $225.11 billion, a PE ratio of 34.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $468.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $459.69. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 EPS. Research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 42.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on LIN. 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. 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 target for the company. 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, 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $519.63.

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.