Washington Trust Bank Has $6.77 Million Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Washington Trust Bank cut its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,528 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 558 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Bank's holdings in Linde were worth $6,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. North Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $515.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was 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 Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $475.83 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $461.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $451.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

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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