Hardy Reed LLC Raises Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Hardy Reed LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 197.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,569 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,369 shares during the period. Hardy Reed LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $1,662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 0.3% during the first quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,883,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 20.2% during the first quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,448 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,700,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 527 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde 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 sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $1.62 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $461.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,514,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,972,164. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business's 50 day moving average is $464.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $453.45. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $217.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $518.80.

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.