Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by New Mexico Educational Retirement Board

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board trimmed its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,236 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 700 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board's holdings in Linde were worth $10,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. North Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised 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 research report on Monday, June 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada assumed 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $518.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of LIN stock traded down $0.93 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $470.34. 2,237,051 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,975,672. 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 PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $463.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $452.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.96.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.75 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

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.