Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Boosts Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 6.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,060 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,479 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $10,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wrapmanager Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $709,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 3,116 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on LIN. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $510.40.

Linde Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $3.41 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $463.16. 1,470,611 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,967,172. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.97. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The firm's 50 day moving average is $458.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $449.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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, 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 net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The firm's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued 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 yield of 1.30%. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

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.