Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 2,215 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Federated Hermes Inc. trimmed its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 79,442 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,215 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $36,991,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Capital World Investors grew its position in Linde by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in 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 purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,128,233,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Linde by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,925,322 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,062,085,000 after purchasing an additional 500,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Linde by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,818,608 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,598,737,000 after purchasing an additional 265,455 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on LIN shares. 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 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.80.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN traded down $0.85 on Friday, reaching $459.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,219,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,481,246. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.36, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $467.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $457.33. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The firm's revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.85 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Linde Company 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.