Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Has $33.25 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,416 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,956 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG's holdings in Linde were worth $33,254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Linde stock traded up $0.62 on Monday, hitting $466.60. The company had a trading volume of 1,584,392 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,969,139. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $455.26 and a 200-day moving average of $449.01.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The business's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the business'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 sale, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents 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 insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $510.40.

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.