Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Invests $6.51 Million in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund 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 SEC. The institutional investor purchased 13,977 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $6,508,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Wrapmanager Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% in 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 period. Austin Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its position in Linde by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 3,116 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were 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 now owns 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.40.

Linde Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of LIN stock traded down $2.84 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $455.86. The company had a trading volume of 4,363,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,968,484. 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 $214.58 billion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.97. The company's fifty day moving average is $457.70 and its 200 day moving average is $449.11. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The company's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.75 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

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.