Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by TCW Group Inc.

Key Points

• TCW Group Inc. reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 1.9% during the first quarter, holding 54,252 shares worth approximately $25.26 million.
• Linde reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $3.95, surpassing analysts' expectations of $3.92, with a revenue of $8.11 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, which translates to an annualized dividend of $6.00, yielding 1.27%.

TCW Group Inc. cut its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54,252 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,029 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $25,262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 34.9% in the fourth 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 purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded down $3.51 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $462.72. The stock had a trading volume of 842,310 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,117,786. The firm's 50 day moving average is $467.12 and its 200 day moving average is $457.06. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $217.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.60, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value 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 approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.