Keybank National Association OH Sells 551 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Keybank National Association OH lowered its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,297 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 551 shares during the quarter. Keybank National Association OH's holdings in Linde were worth $20,626,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Linde by 34.4% during 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 position in Linde by 0.3% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake 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 worth $3,857,741,000 after buying an additional 554,480 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $2,128,233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

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 transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This 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.

Linde Trading Down 0.3%

LIN stock traded down $1.34 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $475.83. The company had a trading volume of 952,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,963,758. The stock has a market cap of $223.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $460.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $450.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The firm's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Linde's payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on LIN. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $515.90.

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.