DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 4,995 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lessened its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 844,306 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 4,995 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for approximately 0.8% of DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned about 0.18% of Linde worth $385,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 1,160.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other 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 transaction, the vice president 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ LIN traded down $0.43 on Tuesday, reaching $469.17. The company had a trading volume of 109,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,963,328. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.96. The company's fifty day moving average is $461.97 and its 200 day moving average is $451.76. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. The business's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $515.90.

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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