Deutsche Bank AG Raises Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank AG significantly increased its stake in Linde PLC by 172.4% during the first quarter, accumulating a total of approximately 2.4 million shares valued at over $1.1 billion.
• Linde recently reported a quarterly EPS of $4.09, exceeding analysts' estimates, along with a revenue of $8.50 billion, reflecting a 2.3% year-over-year increase.
• The company's quarterly dividend of $1.50 is set to be paid on September 18th, representing an annual yield of 1.3%.

Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 172.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,407,637 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,523,702 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG owned about 0.51% of Linde worth $1,121,092,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 2.4% in the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 4,013 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,805,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 4.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,252,131 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,514,322,000 after buying an additional 146,841 shares during the last quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at about $17,699,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in shares of Linde by 0.4% during the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 36,398 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $16,948,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at about $211,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $2.99 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $472.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 939,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,504,921. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm's 50 day moving average is $467.81 and its 200-day moving average is $458.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market cap of $221.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 42.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective 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. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value of $23,815,274.42. Following the sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale 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 Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 59,557 shares of company stock worth $28,037,479. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.