Brucke Financial Inc. Invests $290,000 in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Brucke Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 650 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 6,599 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,763,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $70,755,000. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 4,463 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,868,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $4,554,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business'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 transaction, the vice president now owns 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,725 shares of company stock valued at $5,385,750. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on LIN. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $503.11.

Linde Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $1.57 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $464.08. 1,306,820 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,957,461. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $451.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $447.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The business's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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