Trust Point Inc. Has $1.22 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Trust Point Inc. trimmed its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 22.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,628 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 774 shares during the quarter. Trust Point Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $1,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 58,312.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,590,596,000 after buying an additional 3,410,087 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $468,360,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. 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, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $510.40.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $465.98 on Monday. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $455.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $449.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

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

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.

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