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

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

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Linde stock traded up $1.32 on Wednesday, reaching $471.27. The stock had a trading volume of 1,522,464 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,969,266. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $462.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $451.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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 dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $518.80.

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.