Brown Advisory Inc. Raises Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 4.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 117,861 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 4,564 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $54,881,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,857,741,000 after purchasing an additional 554,480 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $2,128,233,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, 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 transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $518.80.

Linde Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $1.32 on Wednesday, hitting $471.27. The company had a trading volume of 1,522,464 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,969,266. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $462.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $451.89. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year 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 firm has a market capitalization of $221.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.75 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given 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 yield of 1.27%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.