Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Boosts Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 17.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 873,884 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 129,173 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of Linde worth $406,915,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 57.8% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 352 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 18.4% in the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 3,673 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,709,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.4% in the first quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 62,113 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $28,922,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 3.1% in the first quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 1,144 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rice Partnership LLC boosted its position in Linde by 3.6% during the first quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 17,686 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $8,235,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group increased their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, 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 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine 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 "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.80.

Insider Activity at Linde

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

Linde Stock Down 0.1%

Linde stock traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $470.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,338,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,196,083. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $462.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $452.02. The company has a market capitalization of $221.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.75 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio 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.