Swiss National Bank Trims Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• The Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 0.5%, selling 6,100 shares, while still holding approximately 1.34 million shares valued at $625 million.
• Several hedge funds increased their holdings in Linde, with CenterBook Partners LP leading with a 1,192.4% increase in their position.
• Linde reported a quarterly EPS of $4.09, exceeding analysts' expectations of $4.03, and announced a dividend of $1.50 per share to be paid on September 18th.

Swiss National Bank trimmed its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,342,901 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 6,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.29% of Linde worth $625,308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its position in Linde by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $88,505,000 after buying an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,261,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 300.3% in the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,948,000 after acquiring an additional 19,618 shares during the period. Taurus Asset Management LLC raised its position in Linde by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 55,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $23,031,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 770.8% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 36,052 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $15,094,000 after purchasing an additional 31,912 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded up $2.99 during trading on Friday, reaching $472.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 939,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,504,921. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company's fifty day moving average price is $467.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $458.87. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $221.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.92.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%. The business had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.85 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group raised their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 59,557 shares of company stock worth $28,037,479. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.