Davis R M Inc. Sells 2,496 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Davis R M Inc. reduced its holdings in Linde PLC by 1.6%, selling 2,496 shares, which now constitute approximately 1.4% of their portfolio worth about $69.9 million.
• Several large investors increased their stakes in Linde during the fourth quarter, with Capital World Investors raising its position by 34.4%, adding nearly 3 million shares.
• Linde recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, which will be paid on September 18th, representing a 1.29% yield based on its current price.

Davis R M Inc. cut its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 150,028 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,496 shares during the period. Linde makes up approximately 1.4% of Davis R M Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Davis R M Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $69,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in Linde by 0.6% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 4.5% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 300.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in Linde by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 22,235 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $9,287,000 after purchasing an additional 4,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 0.9% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% 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 Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. 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 target price on the stock. Citigroup upgraded 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. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $518.80.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock traded down $0.85 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $459.41. 2,219,331 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,481,246. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $467.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $457.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.25 billion, a PE ratio of 33.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

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.