Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Main Street Research LLC

Main Street Research LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,291 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,775 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up approximately 2.1% of Main Street Research LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $32,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased 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 valued at $28,662,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Linde by 35.1% in 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 period. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in Linde by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 10,613 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,444,000 after acquiring an additional 652 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, 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 value of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 on Friday, May 16th. The stock was 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 $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 1.0%

Linde stock traded up $4.53 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $474.48. The company had a trading volume of 166,513 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,964,105. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $462.36 and its 200-day moving average is $451.89. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LIN. Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $515.90.

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.