Fifth Third Bancorp Buys 2,714 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 293,753 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,714 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp owned 0.06% of Linde worth $136,783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wrapmanager Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its position in Linde by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Linde by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its position in Linde by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 3,116 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $4.55 during trading on Friday, reaching $465.98. The stock had a trading volume of 1,414,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,970,686. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $455.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $449.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $219.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.75 EPS. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $510.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company'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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.