Rice Partnership LLC Increases Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Rice Partnership LLC raised its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,686 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 618 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for about 1.7% of Rice Partnership LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Rice Partnership LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $8,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. North Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 1,160.0% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% during 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded down $5.99 during trading on Monday, hitting $469.59. The stock had a trading volume of 2,099,467 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,970,552. The firm has a market cap of $221.05 billion, a PE ratio of 34.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. 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 50 day simple moving average of $461.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $451.45.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during 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%. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.75 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LIN. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $515.90.

About Linde

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.