Machina Capital S.A.S. Makes New Investment in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new position in Linde PLC, purchasing 1,200 shares valued at approximately $559,000 during the first quarter.
• The majority of Linde's stock, 82.80%, is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds, with significant stakes acquired by firms such as Norges Bank and GAMMA Investing LLC.
• Linde's shares have traded up 0.3%, reaching a price of $472.89, and the company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50, which represents a 1.27% dividend yield.

Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,200 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $559,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Financial Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Linde by 11.6% in the first quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 1,181 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in Linde by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 4,324 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,013,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC now owns 1,461 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $680,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp boosted its holdings in Linde by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 30,596 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $14,247,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,485 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,348,000 after buying an additional 2,686 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.80.

Linde Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Linde stock traded down $2.26 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $470.64. 322,120 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,131,018. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $466.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $456.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $221.54 billion, a PE ratio of 34.17, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.