Cerity Partners LLC Grows Stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 11.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 162,877 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 16,626 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $75,842,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 58,312.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,590,596,000 after buying an additional 3,410,087 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $468,360,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $468.81 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $463.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $452.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.80.

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.

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