Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.

Key Points

• W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. has reduced its stake in Linde PLC by 40.2%, selling 600 shares and holding a total of 892 shares worth $415,000 after the transaction.
• Several institutional investors, including Freemont Capital and GAMMA Investing LLC, have significantly increased their positions in Linde, with GAMMA Lift deploying over $1.5 billion into the company.
• Linde recently reported a quarterly earnings per share of $4.09, beating estimates and showcasing a revenue increase of 2.3% year-over-year, alongside announcing a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share.

W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 40.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 892 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 600 shares during the period. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lifted its position in Linde by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 4,333 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,018,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV raised its stake in shares of Linde by 15.2% in the first quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 639,081 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $297,582,000 after purchasing an additional 84,233 shares during the last quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 29.2% during the first quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 757 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 6.7% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 98,583 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $45,904,000 after buying an additional 6,203 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 2.9% during the first quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 10,112 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,709,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of LIN traded up $2.92 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $472.35. 476,952 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,098,715. The company has a market capitalization of $221.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.61, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company's 50 day moving average is $467.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $458.56.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.85 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 42.67%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was 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 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on LIN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. 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. UBS Group raised their target price 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 raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company 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, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Linde Company 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.