Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Acquired by Meridian Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Linde PLC by 49.6% during the first quarter, owning 3,027 shares valued at approximately $1.41 million.
• Linde recently reported EPS of $4.09 for the quarter, beating estimates, with revenues of $8.50 billion, marking a 2.3% year-over-year growth.
• The company declared a $1.50 quarterly dividend, yielding 1.3%, to be paid on September 18th, with a payout ratio of 42.67%.

Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 49.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,027 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,004 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $1,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $519.63.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock traded up $2.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $480.08. 1,688,603 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,077,280. The stock has a market capitalization of $225.11 billion, a PE ratio of 34.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The business's 50-day moving average is $468.14 and its 200-day moving average is $459.69.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.85 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 42.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents 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 owned by corporate 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.