Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,236 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $18,270,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 19.7% during the first quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 826 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $384,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. M3 Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC now owns 717 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth $234,000. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 39.2% in the first quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 1,253 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $583,000 after buying an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 21,304 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $9,920,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus upgraded 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 research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $510.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $3.89 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $459.75. 1,610,315 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,967,050. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $457.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $449.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $216.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.97. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.75 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 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.