Value Partners Investments Inc. Has $572,000 Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Value Partners Investments Inc. lifted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 83.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,228 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth $281,000. Terra Nova Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Terra Nova Asset Management LLC now owns 1,625 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $757,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Security National Bank lifted its position in shares of Linde by 128.3% during the first quarter. Security National Bank now owns 500 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Linde by 100.7% during the 1st quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,373 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $639,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Linde during the first quarter worth $273,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares of the company's stock, 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 currently owned by insiders.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $464.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 438,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,962,917. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $458.70 and a 200-day moving average of $449.50. The company has a market capitalization of $218.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 1.29%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $510.40.

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.