E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Has $8.51 Million Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Linde PLC by 69.1% during the first quarter, owning a total of 18,268 shares valued at approximately $8.5 million.
• Linde recently reported earnings of $4.09 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations and showcasing a 2.3% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.3% and a payout ratio of 42.67%.

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 69.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,268 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,466 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Linde were worth $8,506,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. North Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Two 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, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $519.63.

Linde Trading Up 0.5%

LIN traded up $2.45 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $480.08. 1,951,307 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,506,062. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $225.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.15, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $468.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $459.69.

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 company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.85 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 42.67%.

Insider Activity at Linde

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

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.