Pacer Advisors Inc. Has $24.37 Million Stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. has reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 23%, selling 15,638 shares and now owning a total of 52,341 shares valued at $24.37 million.
• Insider transactions revealed that VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares, indicating a 47.11% decrease in his holdings, while another VP, David P. Strauss, sold 1,987 shares with an 8.07% decrease in his ownership.
• Linde reported a quarterly earnings per share of $3.95, surpassing analyst expectations, although its revenue of $8.11 billion fell short of consensus estimates of $8.24 billion.

Pacer Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 23.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,341 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 15,638 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $24,372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $88,505,000 after buying an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,261,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 300.3% in the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,948,000 after buying an additional 19,618 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment increased its position in shares of Linde by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 22,235 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $9,287,000 after buying an additional 4,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 55,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $23,031,000 after buying an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $1.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $472.89. The company had a trading volume of 1,212,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,475,670. The company has a market capitalization of $222.60 billion, a PE ratio of 34.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $466.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $456.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. Linde's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $518.80.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm'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 $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.