Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Director Sells $23,815,274.42 in Stock

Key Points

• Director Sell-Off: Linde PLC Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares for over $23.8 million, reducing his ownership by 9.48% to 480,543 shares.
• Quarterly Earnings Beat: The company reported $4.09 EPS, exceeding estimates and reflecting a 2.3% revenue increase year-over-year, with a quarterly revenue of $8.50 billion.
• Dividend Announcement: Linde announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.3%, to be paid on September 18th.

Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $2.99 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $472.42. 939,239 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,101,948. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $467.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $458.56. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.52 billion, a PE ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.92.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup raised 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 report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Linde

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Linde in the first quarter worth $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

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.

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