Wealthfront Advisers LLC Purchases 6,078 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 13.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,854 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,078 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $24,145,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Linde by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,598,551,000 after acquiring an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Linde by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,857,741,000 after acquiring an additional 554,480 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $2,128,233,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, 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 transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the sale, 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 through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president owned 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.80.

Linde Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $2.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $463.55. 1,170,217 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,969,171. 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 stock has a market cap of $218.20 billion, a PE ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.96. The company's fifty day moving average is $464.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $453.75. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

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 the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.75 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. Linde's 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.