D.A. Davidson & CO. Grows Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,562 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 946 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.'s holdings in Linde were worth $12,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Linde by 34.4% in the fourth 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after acquiring an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Linde by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,857,741,000 after purchasing an additional 554,480 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $2,128,233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $515.90.

Linde Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $475.83 on Friday. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $223.98 billion, a PE ratio of 34.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.96. The business's 50 day moving average is $460.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $450.71.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.

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