Pelham Capital Ltd. Increases Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Pelham Capital Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 4.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 42,433 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,726 shares during the period. Linde accounts for about 10.4% of Pelham Capital Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Pelham Capital Ltd.'s holdings in Linde were worth $19,759,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LIN. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded down $1.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $468.76. 738,489 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,970,893. The company has a market capitalization of $220.65 billion, a PE ratio of 34.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a fifty day moving average of $463.17 and a 200 day moving average of $452.35. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.80.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 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. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.