Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Buys 2,081 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 94.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,296 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 2,081 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $2,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Linde by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its position in shares of Linde by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 68,460 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $28,662,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 2,253 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 business's stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $459.41. 2,219,331 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,481,246. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $467.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $457.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.36, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. Linde's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.85 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde's payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LIN. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.80.

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.