MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC Sells 534 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

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

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in Linde by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $88,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 168,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $70,337,000 after acquiring an additional 13,000 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,261,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 300.3% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,948,000 after purchasing an additional 19,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in Linde by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 22,235 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,287,000 after purchasing an additional 4,162 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.80.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded down $1.53 on Friday, hitting $468.81. 1,326,438 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,973,086. The company has a 50 day moving average of $463.17 and a 200 day moving average of $452.35. The stock has a market cap of $220.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.96. 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 PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm'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 sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, 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.

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.