Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Mather Group LLC.

Mather Group LLC. lessened its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 61.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,949 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 3,068 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.'s holdings in Linde were worth $908,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in Linde by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 68,460 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $28,662,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,652 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $692,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,245 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.90.

Linde Stock Down 0.3%

LIN stock traded down $1.34 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $475.83. 952,724 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,963,758. The company has a market cap of $223.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $460.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $450.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.75 EPS. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.