Freedom Day Solutions LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Freedom Day Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 9.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,102 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Freedom Day Solutions LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $2,841,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in Linde by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $88,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC increased 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 worth $3,261,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC boosted its position in Linde by 300.3% in the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,948,000 after purchasing an additional 19,618 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in Linde by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 22,235 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,287,000 after purchasing an additional 4,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 worth $23,031,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Two equities research 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $518.80.

Linde Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of LIN traded down $1.53 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $468.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,326,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,975,504. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $463.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $452.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The business 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 quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 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.