860 Shares in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Bought by RFG Advisory LLC

RFG Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 860 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $401,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors increased its position in Linde by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Linde by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,598,551,000 after buying an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Linde by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,857,741,000 after buying an additional 554,480 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $2,128,233,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. 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 report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.11.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $472.71 on Friday. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $222.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $452.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $448.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.75 EPS. Linde's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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