Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) is Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations' Largest Position

Key Points

• Caisse Des Dépôts et Consignations reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 4.0%, selling 29,271 shares, making it the firm's largest position at 15.7% of its portfolio.
• Linde announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, which will be paid on September 18th, representing an annualized yield of 1.3%.
• The company reported $4.09 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' expectations of $4.03, along with a revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter.

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations lessened its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 4.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 703,011 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 29,271 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises 15.7% of Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations' investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations owned about 0.15% of Linde worth $327,350,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Strategy Asset Managers LLC lifted its position in Linde by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 834 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Linde by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $450,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in Linde by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 816 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $380,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Rockingstone Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,883,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on 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 owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 Linde stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,557 shares of company stock valued at $28,037,479 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $2.99 on Friday, hitting $472.42. The company had a trading volume of 939,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,504,921. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 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. The business has a 50 day moving average of $467.81 and a 200 day moving average of $458.87. The company has a market cap of $221.52 billion, a PE ratio of 33.60, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.92.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.85 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given 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 payout ratio is currently 42.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Linde 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.