Longbow Finance SA Sells 4,178 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Longbow Finance SA has reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 17.7%, owning 19,454 shares after selling 4,178 shares in the first quarter, amounting to a value of approximately $9 million.
• In its latest quarterly earnings report, Linde PLC posted an earnings per share (EPS) of $3.95, exceeding estimates, with revenue reaching $8.11 billion for the quarter.
• Linde announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.27%, and currently has a payout ratio of 43.57%.

Longbow Finance SA reduced its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 17.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,454 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 4,178 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises approximately 1.1% of Longbow Finance SA's portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Longbow Finance SA's holdings in Linde were worth $9,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in Linde by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $88,505,000 after buying an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,261,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 300.3% in the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,948,000 after purchasing an additional 19,618 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in shares of Linde by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 22,235 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,287,000 after purchasing an additional 4,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 55,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $23,031,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Linde Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $1.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $472.89. The company had a trading volume of 1,212,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,547,221. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.60 billion, a PE ratio of 34.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.96. The stock's 50 day moving average is $466.53 and its 200-day moving average is $456.27.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

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.