Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 81.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 668 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,947 shares during the quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in Linde by 0.6% during 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 buying an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 19,618 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 4,162 shares during the period. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 55,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $23,031,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group increased their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. 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 company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $518.80.

Linde Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ LIN traded up $1.62 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $461.29. 1,514,152 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,972,164. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $464.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $453.45. 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 company 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 (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for 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%. Linde's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company'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 sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents 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 currently 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.