Vestor Capital LLC Trims Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Vestor Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 96.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 131 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 4,161 shares during the period. Vestor Capital LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $61,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $88,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,261,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 300.3% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,948,000 after buying an additional 19,618 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 22,235 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $9,287,000 after buying an additional 4,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 55,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $23,031,000 after buying an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 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 insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.3%

Linde stock traded up $1.40 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $472.89. The stock had a trading volume of 1,212,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,547,221. The stock has a market cap of $222.60 billion, a PE ratio of 34.34, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.96. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $466.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $456.27.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $518.80.

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.