Legacy Advisors LLC Increases Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Legacy Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 39.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,188 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 619 shares during the quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $1,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Linde by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Linde by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,857,741,000 after purchasing an additional 554,480 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $2,128,233,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded down $0.67 during trading on Friday, reaching $463.79. 2,634,344 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,972,547. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $458.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $449.70. The stock has a market cap of $218.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.68, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.97. 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 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released 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 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was 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 now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.40.

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.