Vest Financial LLC Buys 11,903 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Vest Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 140,932 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,903 shares during the period. Linde accounts for 1.0% of Vest Financial LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $65,624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 34.9% during 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. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 transaction of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $2.45 on Friday, reaching $472.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,352,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,965,676. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $222.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $452.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $448.54. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.75 EPS. The business's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 1.27%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.11.

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.