Canton Hathaway LLC Invests $652,000 in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,400 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $652,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its position in shares of Linde by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 68,460 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $28,662,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 20,791 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $8,705,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $455.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $214.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.97. 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 company's 50-day moving average is $457.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $449.17. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The company's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. Research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.

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