Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Perpetual Ltd

Perpetual Ltd reduced its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 205,853 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,805 shares during the period. Linde accounts for about 1.2% of Perpetual Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Perpetual Ltd's holdings in Linde were worth $95,853,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 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 through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $464.46 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month 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 simple moving average is $458.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.50. The firm has a market cap of $218.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for 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%. Linde's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. 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 price objective for the company. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.40.

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.

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