Kimelman & Baird LLC Purchases 1,171 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Kimelman & Baird LLC raised its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 34,008 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,171 shares during the period. Linde accounts for approximately 1.3% of Kimelman & Baird LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Kimelman & Baird LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $15,835,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on LIN shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $519.63.

Linde Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $477.63 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $223.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.97, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $468.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $459.69.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.85 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.67%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde 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 approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% 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.

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.