PFG Investments LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

PFG Investments LLC increased its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 452.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,830 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,318 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $1,314,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 579,976 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $269,294,000 after buying an additional 12,102 shares during the period. Consolidated Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,672,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 37.1% in the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,355,000 after buying an additional 1,374 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 37,958 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $16,896,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Finally, Everett Harris & Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 23.8% in the 1st quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 1,458 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $677,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.65 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $443.18. 1,583,773 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,507,545. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $456.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $421.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $213.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The business's revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 44.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $510.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Citigroup cut Linde from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn cut Linde from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $456.79.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.