Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Acquires 651 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 4.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,885 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $7,397,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 58,312.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,590,596,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410,087 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Linde by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares during the period. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $468,360,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $465.98 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $219.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. Linde plc has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock's 50-day moving average is $455.26 and its 200-day moving average is $449.01.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on LIN. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target 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 given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $510.40.

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.

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