Russell Investments Group Ltd. Increases Stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Linde PLC by 8.7%, owning 749,185 shares valued at approximately $348.62 million, making it the firm's 24th largest holding.
• Analysts have varying ratings for Linde, with two strong buy ratings, seven buy ratings, and an average price target of $519.63 following upgrades from major firms like UBS and Citigroup.
• Linde recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, translating to an annualized dividend of $6.00 and a yield of 1.3%.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 8.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 749,185 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 60,271 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises about 0.5% of Russell Investments Group Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.16% of Linde worth $348,620,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $2.45 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $480.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,948,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,083,680. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $225.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $468.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $459.69.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 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.