Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Acquired by Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.

Key Points

• Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. significantly increased its holdings in Linde PLC by 347.1% during the first quarter, owning 434,777 shares currently valued at approximately $202 million.
• Several institutional investors, including New Age Alpha Advisors and Diversify Advisory Services, have also raised their stakes in Linde, contributing to its 82.80% institutional ownership.
• Linde recently reported a quarterly earnings of $4.09 per share, which surpassed analysts' expectations, alongside a dividend of $1.50 declared for September, reflecting a 1.3% yield.

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 347.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 434,777 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 337,537 shares during the period. Linde comprises 1.9% of Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.09% of Linde worth $202,450,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. 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 valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Linde by 2.5% during the first quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Linde by 0.8% during the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,493,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. increased its position in Linde by 3.0% during the first quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 816 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rockingstone Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 0.3% during the first quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,883,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were 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 directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $518.80.

Linde Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of LIN stock opened at $459.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $216.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $467.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $457.55.

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 net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.85 earnings per share. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

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.

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