Public Sector Pension Investment Board Increases Stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Linde PLC by 106.1%, now owning 457,171 shares, making Linde its 17th largest position.
• In recent insider activity, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares for approximately $23.8 million, reducing his position by 9.48%.
• Analysts have raised Linde's target stock price, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $519.63, reflecting positive expectations for future performance.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 106.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 457,171 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 235,398 shares during the period. Linde comprises about 0.9% of Public Sector Pension Investment Board's holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned 0.10% of Linde worth $212,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $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. Insiders have sold 59,557 shares of company stock valued at $28,037,479 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded up $2.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $477.63. The company had a trading volume of 1,545,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,084,746. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $223.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $467.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $459.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.85 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 42.67%.

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.