Mizuho Markets Americas LLC Sells 2,557 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Mizuho Markets Americas LLC significantly reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 46.5%, now holding 2,941 shares valued at approximately $1.37 million.
• Linde reported earnings of $4.09 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $4.03 EPS, with revenue reaching $8.50 billion.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.3%.

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC lessened its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 46.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,941 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,557 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $1,369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Strategy Asset Managers LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 834 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $388,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $450,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Linde by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,493,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 816 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Rockingstone Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,883,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.63.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN traded up $2.85 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $473.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,347,678 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,482,364. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.90 billion, a PE ratio of 33.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's 50-day moving average is $467.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $459.22.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,557 shares of company stock worth $28,037,479 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Linde

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.