International Assets Investment Management LLC Lowers Stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

International Assets Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 48.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,056 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 995 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN traded down $0.67 on Friday, reaching $463.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,634,344 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,971,601. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.68, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.97. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $458.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $449.50. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The firm's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.75 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently 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.