Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Lowers Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich reduced its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 814,013 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 13,966 shares during the period. Linde comprises approximately 1.4% of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned 0.17% of Linde worth $417,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% in 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. Diversify Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 999 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,883,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value 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. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded down $0.42 on Tuesday, hitting $470.01. The stock had a trading volume of 319,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,970,363. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. 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 stock has a market cap of $221.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.96. The company's 50-day moving average is $464.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $454.60.

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 net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. Linde's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

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.

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