Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Raises Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 139,361 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $64,892,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.1%

LIN opened at $466.60 on Tuesday. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business's 50-day moving average price is $456.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $449.05. The company has a market cap of $219.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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