Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Boosts Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its holdings in Linde PLC by 1.1% in Q1, now owning 65,550 shares worth approximately $30.1 million.
• Linde reported quarterly earnings of $3.95 EPS, surpassing analysts' expectations of $3.92, with year-over-year revenue growth of 0.1% to $8.11 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 1.27% and a payout ratio of 43.57%.

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,550 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 720 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd's holdings in Linde were worth $30,106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its holdings in 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 period. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $518.80.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $2.02 on Wednesday, hitting $469.49. 408,765 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,120,567. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $466.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $457.00. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde 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 sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 Linde 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 sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.