PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• PNC Financial Services Group increased its holdings in Linde PLC by 5.7%, owning about $208.5 million worth of shares after acquiring an additional 23,966 shares in the first quarter.
• Linde reported $4.09 earnings per share for the last quarter, beating analysts' expectations and representing a 2.3% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 1.3%, scheduled for payment on September 18th.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 5.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 447,775 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 23,966 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned about 0.10% of Linde worth $208,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the first quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $7.99 during trading on Monday, hitting $467.40. 1,684,648 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,592,214. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $220.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $467.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $457.93. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.85 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Two equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $518.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde 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 completion of the sale, the vice president directly 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. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Company 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.