BLB&B Advisors LLC Has $9.13 Million Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

BLB&B Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 11.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,602 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 1,962 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $9,127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in Linde by 1,160.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 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. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $515.90.

Linde Trading Up 1.6%

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $7.57 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $476.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,818,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,971,620. The firm has a market cap of $224.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.97. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The business's fifty day moving average is $459.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $450.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The business's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.57%.

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.