Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 4,082 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 380,438 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 4,082 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.08% of Linde worth $177,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $518.80.

Linde Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Linde stock traded up $1.62 on Thursday, reaching $461.29. The company had a trading volume of 1,514,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,972,164. The firm has a market cap of $217.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.96. 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's 50-day moving average price is $464.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $453.45. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 value of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.