Main Street Research LLC Purchases 3,775 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Main Street Research LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,291 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,775 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for approximately 2.1% of Main Street Research LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Main Street Research LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $32,730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Knuff & Co LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the first quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,883,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde by 20.2% in the first quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Linde Trading Up 0.3%

LIN traded up $1.32 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $471.27. The stock had a trading volume of 1,522,464 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,972,935. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $462.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $451.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released 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 net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. The business's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% 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.

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.