Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys 8,981 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,483,495 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,981 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.31% of Linde worth $690,775,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 1,160.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, 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 value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the business'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 directly 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. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $463.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $218.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.68, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.97. The firm's 50-day moving average is $458.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $449.63. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.75 earnings per share. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid 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 dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on LIN. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.

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