Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 3.8% in Q1, now holding approximately 0.05% of the company, valued at $119.54 million after selling over 10,000 shares.
• Linde PLC reported an earnings per share of $4.09 for the recent quarter, exceeding analyst estimates, with a revenue of $8.50 billion marking a year-over-year increase of 2.3%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, reflecting a dividend yield of 1.3% and a payout ratio of 43.57%.

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp reduced its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 256,730 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 10,132 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned 0.05% of Linde worth $119,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. North Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Linde during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded up $7.99 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $467.40. 1,684,648 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,592,214. The firm has a market cap of $220.01 billion, a PE ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company's fifty day moving average is $467.15 and its 200-day moving average is $457.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.85 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group upped 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. Citigroup upgraded shares of 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 report on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $518.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, 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. 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.