Advisors Preferred LLC Purchases New Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 13,331 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $6,227,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded up $1.40 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $472.89. The company had a trading volume of 1,212,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,547,221. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $466.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $456.02. 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 firm has a market cap of $222.60 billion, a PE ratio of 34.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The company 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

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