Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Grows Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,333 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 1,346 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $12,727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $88,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,261,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 300.3% in the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,948,000 after acquiring an additional 19,618 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in Linde by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 22,235 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $9,287,000 after acquiring an additional 4,162 shares during the period. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 55,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $23,031,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of LIN stock traded up $1.62 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $461.29. 1,514,152 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,972,164. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $464.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $453.45. The stock has a market cap of $217.14 billion, a PE ratio of 33.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month 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.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, 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 owned by company insiders.

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.