American National Bank & Trust Raises Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

American National Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 17.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,850 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,193 shares during the period. Linde comprises about 1.8% of American National Bank & Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. American National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Linde were worth $16,228,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $79,000. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 53,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,541,000 after acquiring an additional 2,980 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.11.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock opened at $464.40 on Friday. Linde plc has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $218.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.12, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $451.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $447.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Linde’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,725 shares of company stock valued at $5,385,750 in the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.