Sit Investment Associates Inc. Grows Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Sit Investment Associates Inc. increased its position in Linde PLC by 6.0%, owning 34,252 shares worth approximately $15.9 million after acquiring 1,937 additional shares.
• Insiders at Linde have sold a total of 59,557 shares valued at about $28 million over the last ninety days, indicating a shift in ownership.
• Linde's latest earnings report showed an earnings per share of $4.09, beating estimates, with a revenue increase of 2.3% year-over-year.

Sit Investment Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 6.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,252 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 1,937 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $15,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. North Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value of $23,815,274.42. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 59,557 shares of company stock valued at $28,037,479. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $475.63 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $223.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.83, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.92. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $467.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $459.43. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%. The company's revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.85 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current 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 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 presently 42.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup upgraded 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 research note on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. 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 research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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, August 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

About Linde

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.

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