2,008 Shares in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Bought by Hourglass Capital LLC

Hourglass Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,008 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $935,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors grew its stake 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 worth $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,598,551,000 after acquiring an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Linde by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,857,741,000 after acquiring an additional 554,480 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,128,233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $0.36 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $469.95. 1,627,213 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,969,187. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $461.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $451.76. The company has a market cap of $221.21 billion, a PE ratio of 34.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

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, 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. Linde's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $515.90.

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.