Inspire Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Inspire Advisors LLC acquired 1,326 shares of Linde PLC, valued at approximately $618,000, marking a new investment in the company during the first quarter.
• Analysts have a positive outlook for Linde, with price targets being raised; UBS Group set a new price objective of $504.00, while Citigroup increased theirs to $535.00.
• Insider selling has occurred, with VP David P. Strauss selling 1,987 shares for about $908,138.48, indicating a slight decrease in insider holdings of approximately 8.07%.

Inspire Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,326 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $618,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $3.75 on Thursday, reaching $462.48. 685,056 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,116,834. The company has a fifty day moving average of $467.12 and a 200-day moving average of $457.06. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $217.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.59, a PEG ratio of 3.33 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 (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 analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. 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 target on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $518.80.

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.