Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Invesco Ltd.

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Linde PLC by 1.1%, owning approximately 3.86 million shares worth $1.8 billion after acquiring additional shares in the first quarter.
• Linde reported earnings of $4.09 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue of $8.5 billion and a 20.2% net margin.
• A quarterly dividend of $1.50 is set to be paid to shareholders on September 18th, representing an annualized yield of 1.3% and a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,859,539 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 40,931 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.82% of Linde worth $1,797,156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategy Asset Managers LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 834 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Linde by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,493,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Rockingstone Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company'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 transaction of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 59,557 shares of company stock worth $28,037,479. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $0.99 on Wednesday, hitting $474.22. 91,631 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,076,955. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $467.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $459.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.92. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.85 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 42.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.63.

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.