Empire Life Investments Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Empire Life Investments Inc. reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 10.0%, selling 648 shares and holding 5,853 shares valued at approximately $2.7 million.
• Several analysts recently upgraded their ratings for Linde, with Citigroup raising the target price from $500 to $535 and Royal Bank Of Canada setting a price objective of $576.
• Linde has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 1.3%, and a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Empire Life Investments Inc. lowered its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 10.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,853 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 648 shares during the quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $2,725,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Linde by 2.5% in the first quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $450,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Linde by 0.8% in the 1st 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. grew 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 valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the first quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,883,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 20.2% in the 1st quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded up $1.64 on Wednesday, hitting $471.48. The stock had a trading volume of 1,263,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,574,652. The stock has a market cap of $221.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.92. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business's 50 day moving average is $467.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $458.23.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released 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 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company 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 company earned $3.85 EPS. Linde's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders 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 of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 42.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on LIN. UBS Group raised their price target 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. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Two equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.63.

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.