Donoghue Forlines LLC Acquires Shares of 4,990 Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired 4,990 shares of Linde PLC, valued at approximately $2,324,000, making it the 28th largest position in their portfolio.
• Analysts remain positive on Linde, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63, up from various previous estimates.
• Linde recently reported earnings of $4.09 per share, exceeding expectations and showing a 2.3% year-over-year revenue increase to $8.50 billion.

Donoghue Forlines LLC purchased a new position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 4,990 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $2,324,000. Linde accounts for approximately 0.7% of Donoghue Forlines LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,261,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 300.3% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,948,000 after buying an additional 19,618 shares in the last quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 55,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $23,031,000 after buying an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 770.8% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 36,052 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $15,094,000 after buying an additional 31,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlTi Global Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $971,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% 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 Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company'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 value of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 59,557 shares of company stock valued at $28,037,479. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $472.42 on Friday. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $221.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.60, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50 day moving average of $467.81 and a 200 day moving average of $458.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%. The company's revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.85 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 42.67%.

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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