Wealthfront Advisers LLC Boosts Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 13.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 51,854 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,078 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $24,145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the business'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 sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of LIN traded up $1.62 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $461.29. The company had a trading volume of 1,514,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,971,862. 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 quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $217.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $464.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $453.45.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. 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 quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.75 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Linde Company 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.