MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC Has $1.70 Million Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 12.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,643 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 534 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises approximately 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.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Linde by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Linde by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,857,741,000 after purchasing an additional 554,480 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,128,233,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Linde Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ: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 1,969,266. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $221.84 billion, a PE ratio of 34.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company's 50 day moving average is $462.36 and its 200-day moving average is $451.89.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

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.