Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,758 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,470 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue's holdings in Linde were worth $25,963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 58,312.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,590,596,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410,087 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.4% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $468,360,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the vice president now directly 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 Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded down $2.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $458.70. The company had a trading volume of 1,220,950 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,965,839. The business's 50-day moving average is $457.41 and its 200-day moving average is $449.19. 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 PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $215.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 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, 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.75 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Linde 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.