Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Boosts Stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,433 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,289 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $23,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Rockingstone Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,883,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,448 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,700,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 527 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, 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. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 target price 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 investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $518.80.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $468.78 on Tuesday. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $463.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $453.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.57%.

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.