Rockland Trust Co. Has $12.02 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Rockland Trust Co. lessened its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 6.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,815 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,889 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co.'s holdings in Linde were worth $12,020,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $88,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 168,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $70,337,000 after purchasing an additional 13,000 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its stake in Linde by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,261,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 138,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $57,986,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 300.3% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,948,000 after purchasing an additional 19,618 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN traded down $4.55 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $465.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,414,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,968,385. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $454.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $449.06.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on LIN. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on Linde in a report on Friday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $510.40.

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.