MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 12.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,643 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 534 shares during the period. Linde accounts for 1.6% of MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $1,696,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 14.1% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its position in shares of Linde by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 68,460 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $28,662,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,623 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,098,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 10,613 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,444,000 after purchasing an additional 652 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock traded down $0.93 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $470.34. 2,237,051 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,975,672. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.40 billion, a PE ratio of 34.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $463.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $452.35. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Linde 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.