Golden State Wealth Management LLC Has $1.41 Million Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 197.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,018 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,004 shares during the quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.40.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $460.20 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $458.46 and a 200-day moving average of $449.35. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $216.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.42, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the 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 now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Linde

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.