Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC

OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 12.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,966 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 957 shares during the quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $3,244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Austin Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 3,116 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rockingstone Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,883,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $0.73 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $470.68. The company had a trading volume of 760,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,966,526. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month 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. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $462.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $451.89. The stock has a market cap of $221.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. Linde's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.