Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Lowers Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC cut its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 10.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 47,448 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 5,768 shares during the period. Linde makes up approximately 1.6% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings in Linde were worth $22,094,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 now owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.40.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock traded down $4.55 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $465.98. The stock had a trading volume of 1,414,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,970,686. The firm's fifty day moving average is $455.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $449.12. The company has a market capitalization of $219.35 billion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The company's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.75 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

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.