Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC raised its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 92,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,376 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $38,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Provence Wealth Management Group raised its position in Linde by 655.7% during the fourth quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $1,600,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $1,480,000. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $2,045,000. 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 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Mizuho lifted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $464.69.

Linde Stock Up 0.7 %

Linde stock traded up $3.02 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $426.62. 1,533,480 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,225,953. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $455.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $423.74. The firm has a market cap of $205.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

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.