Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX Purchases New Shares in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX bought a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 10,652 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $4,554,000. Linde makes up approximately 1.1% of Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Wrapmanager Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $709,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA increased its stake in Linde by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,999,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,732,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. The trade was a 65.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,725 shares of company stock worth $5,385,750. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.1%

Linde stock traded up $0.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $464.71. The stock had a trading volume of 715,862 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,952,720. Linde plc has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $451.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $447.79. The company has a market capitalization of $218.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.13, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.