KBC Group NV Has $269.46 Million Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

KBC Group NV decreased its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 6.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 578,694 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 37,000 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up about 0.8% of KBC Group NV's holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. KBC Group NV owned approximately 0.12% of Linde worth $269,463,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.67 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $463.79. The stock had a trading volume of 2,634,344 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,972,547. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $458.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.70. 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 $218.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.68, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. Linde's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $510.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.