Lbp Am Sa Buys 35,955 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Lbp Am Sa boosted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 10.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 379,247 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 35,955 shares during the period. Linde makes up approximately 2.7% of Lbp Am Sa's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Lbp Am Sa owned 0.08% of Linde worth $176,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $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 Performance

Linde stock opened at $474.33 on Wednesday. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business's 50-day moving average price is $462.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $451.89. The stock has a market cap of $223.28 billion, a PE ratio of 34.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.75 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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 value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

About Linde

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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