Smith Salley Wealth Management Acquires 3,407 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Smith Salley Wealth Management lifted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,750 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,407 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises about 1.5% of Smith Salley Wealth Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Smith Salley Wealth Management's holdings in Linde were worth $23,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Linde by 58,312.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,590,596,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410,087 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Linde by 34.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $468,360,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upgraded 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 research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $515.90.

Linde Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $7.57 on Tuesday, hitting $476.75. 1,818,801 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,971,620. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.62, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $459.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $450.01.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. The firm's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was 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.

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.