Simon Quick Advisors LLC Acquires 1,013 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 23.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,344 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,013 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $2,488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wrapmanager Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $709,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 3,116 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,305,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the 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 owns 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $4.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $465.98. The stock had a trading volume of 1,414,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,970,686. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $219.35 billion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company's 50 day moving average is $455.26 and its 200-day moving average is $449.06.

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 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 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $510.40.

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.