Tredje AP fonden Buys 93,294 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Tredje AP fonden increased its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 80.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 208,676 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 93,294 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises about 0.9% of Tredje AP fonden's portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Tredje AP fonden's holdings in Linde were worth $97,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Linde by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after acquiring an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Linde by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,857,741,000 after acquiring an additional 554,480 shares during the last quarter. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,128,233,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Linde by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,925,322 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,062,085,000 after acquiring an additional 500,489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup raised shares of 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. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Two 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.80.

Linde Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of LIN traded down $0.85 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $459.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,219,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,128,351. The firm has a market cap of $216.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.96. 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. The company has a 50 day moving average of $467.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $457.33.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.85 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction 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 represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.