Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC Has $51.25 Million Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 13.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 110,069 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 16,499 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up about 4.2% of Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Mar Vista Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $51,253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MJP Associates Inc. ADV raised its stake in Linde by 32.3% during the 1st quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 708 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $330,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Linde by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 162,877 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $75,842,000 after buying an additional 16,626 shares during the last quarter. Pelham Capital Ltd. grew its position in Linde by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Pelham Capital Ltd. now owns 42,433 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $19,759,000 after buying an additional 1,726 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Bank OH raised its holdings in Linde by 10.4% during the first quarter. Peoples Bank OH now owns 778 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 52.8% during the first quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 1,288 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded down $1.53 during trading on Friday, reaching $468.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,326,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,975,504. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.68 billion, a PE ratio of 34.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $463.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $452.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade 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.

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.