Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 385,198 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 11,356 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Linde worth $179,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors increased 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 valued at $4,834,631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Linde by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,857,741,000 after purchasing an additional 554,480 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,128,233,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN traded up $5.39 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $469.18. 1,827,303 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,971,965. The stock has a market cap of $220.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.97. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $458.94 and a 200-day moving average of $449.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde 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 sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. 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 on the stock. Two equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $515.90.

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.