Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Sells 3,514 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP reduced its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 10.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,663 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 3,514 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP's holdings in Linde were worth $14,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ LIN traded up $1.47 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $471.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 592,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,971,133. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $464.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $454.60. The stock has a market cap of $222.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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