Hourglass Capital LLC Invests $935,000 in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Hourglass Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,008 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $935,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 1,160.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $0.92 during trading on Thursday, hitting $470.35. 1,603,803 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,973,973. 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 PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.16, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $462.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $452.02.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.75 earnings per share. Linde's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target 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.