Insider Selling: Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) VP Sells 10,025 Shares of Stock

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Linde Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ LIN traded up $1.39 on Wednesday, hitting $465.11. 1,585,445 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,893,262. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $452.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $448.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $222.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $361.02 and a 52-week high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.57 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on LIN. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Linde

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,744,033,000 after buying an additional 405,952 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,434,406,000 after purchasing an additional 141,322 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,066,825,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in shares of Linde by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,959,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,624,462,000 after purchasing an additional 138,585 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,513,551,000 after buying an additional 15,187 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.