Assetmark Inc. Purchases 5,689 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Linde PLC by 10.3%, acquiring an additional 5,689 shares, bringing their total holdings to 60,803 shares valued at approximately $28.3 million.
• Several hedge funds have also boosted their positions, with Cetera Investment Advisers increasing their stake by 15.7% and One Wealth Advisors increasing theirs by 20.2% in the same quarter.
• Linde announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $6.00 with a yield of 1.27%.

Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 10.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,803 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,689 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $28,312,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $1.40 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $472.89. The stock had a trading volume of 1,212,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,475,670. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $466.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $456.52. The firm has a market cap of $222.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week 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.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its 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 company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 period last year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $518.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the business'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 transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, 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. 0.70% of the stock is owned by 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.