National Pension Service Grows Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• The National Pension Service increased its stake in Linde PLC by 9.3% in the first quarter, acquiring 85,818 shares and bringing its total ownership to 1,008,568 shares, valued at approximately $469.6 million.
• During this quarter, Linde reported earnings of $4.09 EPS, exceeding analysts' expectations, along with a revenue of $8.50 billion, a 2.3% increase from the previous year.
• Linde recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $6.00 and a dividend yield of 1.3%.

National Pension Service grew its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 9.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,008,568 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 85,818 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.21% of Linde worth $469,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,128,233,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,097,793,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 58,312.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,590,596,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410,087 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Linde by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Linde by 172.4% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,407,637 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,121,092,000 after buying an additional 1,523,702 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded up $2.45 on Friday, hitting $480.08. 1,951,307 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,083,887. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The business's fifty day moving average is $468.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $459.69. 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 $225.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.15, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.92.

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 analysts' consensus estimates 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 last year, the company earned $3.85 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value of $23,815,274.42. Following the sale, the director owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

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.