Welch & Forbes LLC Has $47.62 Million Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Welch & Forbes LLC grew its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 102,275 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 2,176 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $47,623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 27,333 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $12,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346 shares in the last quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 16,685 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,769,000 after purchasing an additional 804 shares in the last quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 322.5% in the first quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 376 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at about $220,000. Finally, Bridgewater Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at about $638,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of LIN traded up $1.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $462.54. 776,867 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,967,524. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $217.73 billion, a PE ratio of 33.62, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $464.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $453.75.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde 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 completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on LIN. 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 objective on the stock. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus 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.