Forbes J M & Co. LLP Has $17.65 Million Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Forbes J M & Co. LLP grew its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,905 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Linde accounts for about 1.7% of Forbes J M & Co. LLP's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Forbes J M & Co. LLP's holdings in Linde were worth $17,650,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Linde by 3.6% in the first quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,291 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,464,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Nationale Nederlanden Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. raised its position in Linde by 44.8% during the 1st quarter. Nationale Nederlanden Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. now owns 79,822 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,168,000 after purchasing an additional 24,709 shares during the last quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt bought a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $233,405,000. Guidance Capital Inc. raised its position in Linde by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 2,236 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,017,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Funds Management Co LLC raised its position in Linde by 32.1% during the 1st quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $875,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $518.80.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company'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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $472.02 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $222.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $464.65 and a 200 day moving average of $454.60.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given 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 was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is presently 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.

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