City Holding Co. Grows Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

City Holding Co. increased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 10,811 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the period. City Holding Co.'s holdings in Linde were worth $5,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Linde by 4.2% in the first quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,862 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,195,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA raised its stake in shares of Linde by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 1,134 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 901 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 26.8% in the 1st quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,418 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $660,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 42.0% during the 1st quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 497 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $472.71 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $222.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $452.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $448.51. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Linde's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.75 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

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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