Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 95,745 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Linde PLC by 12.0%, acquiring an additional 95,745 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 0.19%, valued at $416.47 million.
• Linde PLC reported $4.09 EPS for the latest quarter, surpassing estimates, with revenue of $8.50 billion and a net margin of 20.20%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, equating to an annualized dividend yield of 1.3%, with a dividend payout ratio of 42.67%.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 12.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 894,403 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 95,745 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.19% of Linde worth $416,470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Linde by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in Linde by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 68,460 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $28,662,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in Linde by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 2,253 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 2,775 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,162,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock opened at $471.48 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $467.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $458.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month 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 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.85 earnings per share. Linde's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. 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 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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