Mechanics Bank Trust Department Raises Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 35.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,357 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 619 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department's holdings in Linde were worth $1,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Linde by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in Linde by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 5,816 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,435,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Linde by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 3,918 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,646,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 84.8% during the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 2,086 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $873,000 after buying an additional 957 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $503.11.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded down $3.51 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $470.26. The company had a trading volume of 1,678,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,963,501. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $221.36 billion, a PE ratio of 34.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $452.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $448.36.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's 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 now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.