Fiduciary Alliance LLC Takes $646,000 Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Fiduciary Alliance LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,387 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $646,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 8.6% during the first quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 810 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Addenda Capital Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 7.8% during the first quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 23,667 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $11,020,000 after purchasing an additional 1,708 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Linde by 17.5% during the first quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 34,850 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $16,228,000 after purchasing an additional 5,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 5.9% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 109,366 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $50,925,000 after purchasing an additional 6,125 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, 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 at this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $503.11.

Linde Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $2.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $472.71. The stock had a trading volume of 1,352,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,963,781. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $222.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $452.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $448.56.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.75 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Linde Company 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.