Linde PLC $LIN Shares Bought by Brooklyn Investment Group

Key Points

• Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in Linde PLC by 31.2%, owning 4,344 shares worth approximately $2,022,000 as of the end of the most recent quarter.
• Linde reported a quarterly earnings per share of $4.09, exceeding analysts' expectations and reflecting a 2.3% year-over-year revenue growth to $8.50 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50, with an annualized yield of 1.2% and a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 31.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,344 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares during the quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group's holdings in Linde were worth $2,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 68,460 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $28,662,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 80.4% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 2,253 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $943,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 595,775 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $249,433,000 after acquiring an additional 114,271 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $480.08 on Monday. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $468.28 and a 200-day moving average of $460.24. The company has a market capitalization of $225.11 billion, a PE ratio of 34.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.85 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 42.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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