Balentine LLC Makes New $303,000 Investment in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Balentine LLC bought a new position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 651 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of LIN traded up $3.72 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $465.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,267,610 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,977,294. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company's 50-day moving average is $464.65 and its 200-day moving average is $454.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.77, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective 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 raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of 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 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $518.80.

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.