Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. Buys 4,942 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 552.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,837 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,942 shares during the quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $2,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. North Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abound Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Linde stock traded up $1.40 during trading on Friday, reaching $472.89. 1,212,138 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,547,221. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $466.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $456.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.60 billion, a PE ratio of 34.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 business 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%. Linde's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set 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 lifted their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $518.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president 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. 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.