Headlands Technologies LLC Invests $3.62 Million in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Headlands Technologies LLC has acquired a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by purchasing 7,765 shares for approximately $3.6 million in the first quarter.
• Linde reported earnings of $4.09 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, with a revenue of $8.5 billion, marking a 2.3% increase from the previous year.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 1.3%.

Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $3,616,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Linde by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Linde by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,857,741,000 after purchasing an additional 554,480 shares during the period. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,128,233,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Linde by 11.3% in 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 buying an additional 500,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,812,461 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,596,163,000 after buying an additional 12,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was 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 $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was 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 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. Insiders have sold a total of 59,557 shares of company stock worth $28,037,479 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN traded up $2.99 on Friday, reaching $472.42. The stock had a trading volume of 939,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,504,921. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $467.81 and a 200-day moving average of $458.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $221.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.92.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.85 EPS. The business's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.