Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Decreases Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank decreased its stake in Linde PLC by 4.6%, holding 394,241 shares valued at approximately $183.57 million at the end of the recent quarter.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Buy" for Linde, with target prices ranging from $518.80 to $576.00, indicating positive expectations for the stock.
• Linde recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 1.27%.

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lessened its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 4.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 394,241 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 19,200 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises 0.5% of Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned about 0.08% of Linde worth $183,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Linde by 58,312.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,590,596,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410,087 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Linde by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $468,360,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $386,957,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted 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. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Two investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $518.80.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded down $1.98 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $469.53. 408,765 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,120,567. 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 quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $221.02 billion, a PE ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.96. The company's fifty day moving average is $466.90 and its 200-day moving average is $457.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The firm's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $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. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.