Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Decreases Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP trimmed its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 10.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,663 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 3,514 shares during the quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP's holdings in Linde were worth $14,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Nationale Nederlanden Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. raised its position in Linde by 44.8% in the first quarter. Nationale Nederlanden Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. now owns 79,822 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $37,168,000 after acquiring an additional 24,709 shares in the last quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $233,405,000. Guidance Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 8.5% in the first quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 2,236 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,017,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC increased its position in Linde by 32.1% in the 1st quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $875,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFG Advisors raised its position in Linde by 34.1% during the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 4,597 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,141,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of LIN traded up $1.50 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $471.49. The stock had a trading volume of 1,381,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,577,209. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $465.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $455.22. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.75 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.57%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company'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 sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $518.80.

Linde 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.