First National Trust Co Has $16.65 Million Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

First National Trust Co lessened its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,755 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,533 shares during the period. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Linde were worth $16,649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Linde by 14.1% during 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 during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in Linde by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 68,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,662,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 2,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $943,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related 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 transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $518.80.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $471.51 on Wednesday. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $466.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $457.00. The stock has a market cap of $221.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. Linde’s 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 year.

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.