Saturna Capital Corp Sells 848 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Saturna Capital Corp cut its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 134,937 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 848 shares during the quarter. Saturna Capital Corp's holdings in Linde were worth $62,832,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde 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 completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.80.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $3.72 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $465.01. 2,267,610 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,975,399. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $464.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $453.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.89 billion, a PE ratio of 33.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

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.