Eagle Global Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Eagle Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde PLC by 65.9%, acquiring an additional 11,312 shares, bringing their total to 28,472 shares valued at approximately $13.26 million.
• Insiders at Linde have sold a total of 59,557 shares worth about $28 million over the past quarter, indicating significant insider selling activity.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Linde, with new targets ranging from $475.00 to $576.00, reflecting a generally optimistic outlook for the company.

Eagle Global Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 65.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,472 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,312 shares during the period. Eagle Global Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $13,258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strategy Asset Managers LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 2.8% during the first quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 834 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $388,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.5% during the first quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Linde by 0.8% during the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 3.0% during the first quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 816 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rockingstone Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 0.3% in the first quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,883,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $2.40 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $475.63. 1,797,807 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,486,557. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $223.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $467.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $459.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.85 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 42.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group increased their price target 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. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued 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 a consensus price target of $519.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 59,557 shares of company stock valued at $28,037,479 over the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.