EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 674 Shares of Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde PLC by 19.6%, acquiring an additional 674 shares to hold a total of 4,119 shares valued at approximately $1.92 million.
• Linde reported a quarterly earnings increase, posting $4.09 earnings per share, which exceeded analysts' expectations of $4.03, with revenue reaching $8.50 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, payable on September 18th, representing an annualized dividend of $6.00 and a yield of 1.2%.

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 19.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,119 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $1,918,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Linde by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,857,741,000 after purchasing an additional 554,480 shares during the last quarter. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth $2,128,233,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,925,322 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,062,085,000 after buying an additional 500,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the first quarter worth about $2,097,793,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded down $1.57 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $478.51. The company had a trading volume of 1,218,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,490,247. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 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 capitalization of $224.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $468.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $460.47.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.85 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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 $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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised 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 report on Monday, June 30th. Two 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price 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.