Banque Pictet & Cie SA Trims Stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA lowered its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 99,833 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,789 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in Linde were worth $46,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in Linde by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 68,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,662,000 after buying an additional 1,876 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 35.1% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,098,000 after acquiring an additional 682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 10,613 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,444,000 after purchasing an additional 652 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $475.28 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $462.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $451.89. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $223.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.45, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.75 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $515.90.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm’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 sale, the vice president directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.