TCW Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

TCW Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 54,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,029 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $25,262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $472.89 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $466.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $456.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was 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 directly owned 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde 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.