Spartan Planning & Wealth Management Takes Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Spartan Planning & Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 786 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $366,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after acquiring an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,857,741,000 after acquiring an additional 554,480 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,128,233,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Up 1.6%

LIN stock traded up $7.25 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $471.82. The company had a trading volume of 2,605,396 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,964,877. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $222.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.67, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $451.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $447.86.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for 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%. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Linde's payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $503.11.

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.