Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) VP Sells 9,350 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Linde VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares for about $4.85 million, reducing his stake by 29.69%; the sale covered tax withholding on vested equity awards.
• Linde beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting EPS of $4.59 and revenue of $9.40 billion; revenue rose 9.3% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.60 per share, equivalent to a 1.2% yield. Analysts’ consensus rating was “Moderate Buy,” with a $553.05 average price target.

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total value of $4,851,808.50. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,138 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. The trade was a 29.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded up $13.95 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $525.50. The company had a trading volume of 955,054 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,306,934. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $241.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.67. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $387.78 and a fifty-two week high of $548.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $484.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $493.09.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.52 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.34% and a return on equity of 20.32%. The company had revenue of $9.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.21 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings cut Linde from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup lifted their target price on Linde from $560.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Linde from $535.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Linde from $574.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $553.05.

Institutional Trading of Linde

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LIN. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $611,786,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth about $438,525,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,344,181 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,558,016,000 after buying an additional 719,052 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in Linde by 162.9% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,097,110 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $543,951,000 after buying an additional 679,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Linde by 394.8% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 629,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $312,240,000 after buying an additional 502,520 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

About Linde

Linde plc NASDAQ: LIN is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and distributes atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide and specialty gases. The company serves customers through packaged gases, bulk deliveries, on-site production and pipeline systems.

Linde's products and services support a broad range of industries, including healthcare, food and beverage, manufacturing, chemicals, energy, refining, electronics and metals.

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