Generali Investments Management Co LLC Purchases Shares of 3,212 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Generali Investments Management Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,212 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,496,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $88,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 168,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $70,337,000 after buying an additional 13,000 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,261,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 138,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $57,986,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC increased its position in Linde by 300.3% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,948,000 after buying an additional 19,618 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.11.

Linde Price Performance

LIN traded down $0.54 during trading on Monday, reaching $472.17. The stock had a trading volume of 1,616,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,964,278. The business has a 50-day moving average of $452.49 and a 200-day moving average of $448.51. Linde plc has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $222.26 billion, a PE ratio of 34.69, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.57%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.