Empower Advisory Group LLC Has $115.82 Million Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Linde PLC by 39.3%, acquiring an additional 70,218 shares to reach a total of 248,732 shares valued at $115.8 million.
• Research analysts have raised their ratings and price targets for Linde, with Citigroup upgrading the stock to "buy" and increasing its price target from $500 to $535.
• Linde's recent earnings report showed a revenue of $8.50 billion, exceeding expectations, along with an EPS of $4.09, marking a year-over-year increase from the previous quarter.

Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 39.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 248,732 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 70,218 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC owned about 0.05% of Linde worth $115,819,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LIN. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 12,926 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,019,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd grew its position in Linde by 6.0% during the first quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 4,333 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,018,000 after buying an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV increased its position in shares of Linde by 15.2% in the first quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 639,081 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $297,582,000 after purchasing an additional 84,233 shares during the period. Finally, SGL Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 757 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Two investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents 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 Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $2.05 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $469.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,077,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,562,322. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.12 billion, a PE ratio of 33.39, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock's 50 day moving average is $467.65 and its 200 day moving average is $458.56.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.20% and a return on equity of 19.09%. Linde's revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.85 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. 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.