Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Key Points

• Empirical Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Linde PLC by 162.2% during the first quarter, holding shares valued at $1,834,000.
• Insider transactions included VP Sean Durbin selling 7,261 shares for approximately $3.31 million and VP David P. Strauss selling 1,987 shares valued at around $908,000.
• Linde has received multiple upgrades from analysts, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $518.80, following their recent earnings report beating estimates.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 162.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,938 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,436 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in Linde were worth $1,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. North Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $518.80.

Linde Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $459.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,219,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,481,246. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $467.15 and a 200-day moving average of $457.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.26 billion, a PE ratio of 32.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.92.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.85 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

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.