Forsta AP Fonden Sells 8,200 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden has sold 8,200 shares of Linde PLC, reducing its stake by 6.5%, resulting in ownership of 117,600 shares valued at approximately $54.76 million.
• Linde recently reported earnings of $4.09 EPS, surpassing analysts' estimates of $4.03, with revenues reaching $8.50 billion for the quarter.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50, with an annualized yield of 1.3%, scheduled for payment on September 18th.

Forsta AP Fonden cut its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 6.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 117,600 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 8,200 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in Linde were worth $54,759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Linde in the first quarter worth $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,557 shares of company stock worth $28,037,479 over the last ninety days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on 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 target 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 started coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. 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 note on Monday, June 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Linde Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ LIN traded up $2.99 on Friday, reaching $472.42. The company had a trading volume of 939,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,504,921. The stock's 50 day moving average is $467.81 and its 200-day moving average is $458.87. The stock has a market cap of $221.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.60, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.92. 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 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 42.67%.

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.