Flossbach Von Storch SE Raises Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Flossbach Von Storch SE grew its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 375,582 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,641 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch SE owned about 0.08% of Linde worth $174,886,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. North Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde in the first quarter worth $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake in Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded down $0.93 on Thursday, hitting $470.34. The company had a trading volume of 2,237,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,975,672. 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's fifty day moving average price is $463.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $452.35. The company has a market capitalization of $221.40 billion, a PE ratio of 34.16, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The company's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.75 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde 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 owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Company 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.