Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) is C WorldWide Group Holding A S’s 5th Largest Position

C WorldWide Group Holding A S increased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,048,073 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,373 shares during the period. Linde accounts for about 6.1% of C WorldWide Group Holding A S’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. C WorldWide Group Holding A S’s holdings in Linde were worth $488,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. 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 target price on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $518.80.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $3.10 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $464.39. 434,263 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,966,439. The company has a market cap of $218.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.69, 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 quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $464.40 and a 200 day moving average of $453.75.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.75 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 value of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.