Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $45.90 Million Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Linde PLC by 6.7% during the first quarter, now owning 98,583 shares worth approximately $45.90 million.
• Several analysts upgraded their ratings for Linde, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. raising the target price to $475 and UBS Group bringing it to $504, highlighting strong market confidence.
• Linde recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50, with a record date of September 4th, representing an annualized yield of 1.3%.

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 6.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,583 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,203 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $45,904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in Linde by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $88,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC raised its stake in Linde by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,261,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC raised its stake in Linde by 300.3% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,948,000 after purchasing an additional 19,618 shares in the last quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Linde by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 55,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $23,031,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Linde by 770.8% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 36,052 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $15,094,000 after purchasing an additional 31,912 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.30.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the 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 directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $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. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $467.40 on Tuesday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $467.32 and its 200-day moving average is $458.15. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $220.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 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.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend 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.

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