West Branch Capital LLC Has $1.38 Million Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

West Branch Capital LLC raised its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 42.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,955 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 881 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $1,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake 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 period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.40.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm'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 now directly owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Down 1.2%

LIN traded down $5.70 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $460.90. 1,272,634 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,966,484. 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's 50 day moving average price is $456.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $449.13. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $216.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The company's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

About Linde

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.