Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Sells 51 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV lowered its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 51 shares during the quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,049,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in Linde by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $88,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 168,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $70,337,000 after purchasing an additional 13,000 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lifted its position in Linde by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,261,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in Linde by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 138,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $57,986,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 300.3% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,948,000 after acquiring an additional 19,618 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the 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 now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on Linde in a report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Finally, Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.40.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $465.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $219.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s fifty day moving average is $455.26 and its 200 day moving average is $449.12. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. Linde’s payout ratio is 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.