TD Asset Management Inc Sells 412,812 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• TD Asset Management Inc has significantly reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 52.6%, now owning approximately 0.08% of the company, valued at $173.13 million.
• Company insiders have also sold shares recently, with VP Sean Durbin and VP David P. Strauss reducing their positions by 47.11% and 8.07%, respectively.
• Linde recently announced a $1.50 quarterly dividend, representing a yield of 1.27%, and reported an EPS of $3.95 for the last quarter, slightly exceeding analysts' expectations.

TD Asset Management Inc trimmed its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 52.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 371,810 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 412,812 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc owned approximately 0.08% of Linde worth $173,130,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the first quarter worth $41,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were 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 directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $518.80.

Linde Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $2.04 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $469.47. 362,537 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,120,168. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.99 billion, a PE ratio of 34.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.96. The business's 50 day moving average is $466.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $457.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49.

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

Linde 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.