Cypress Capital Group Reduces Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Cypress Capital Group reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 11.3%, holding now 6,799 shares valued at approximately $3.17 million after selling 867 shares.
• Linde's quarterly earnings per share beat expectations at $4.09, surpassing the consensus estimate of $4.03, with revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter.
• The company recently announced a $1.50 quarterly dividend for stockholders of record, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 1.3%.

Cypress Capital Group reduced its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 11.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,799 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 867 shares during the quarter. Cypress Capital Group's holdings in Linde were worth $3,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $2,128,233,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the first quarter worth $2,097,793,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Linde by 58,312.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,590,596,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410,087 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,604 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Linde by 172.4% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,407,637 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,121,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,523,702 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $519.63.

Linde Stock Up 0.4%

Linde stock traded up $2.00 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $477.63. The stock had a trading volume of 1,545,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,084,746. The company has a market cap of $223.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.97, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The business's 50 day moving average price is $467.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $459.43. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.85 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. 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 presently 42.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the transaction, the director owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 59,557 shares of company stock worth $28,037,479. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.