EdgeRock Capital LLC Has $271,000 Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

EdgeRock Capital LLC raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 15.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 582 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. EdgeRock Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors grew its position in Linde by 34.4% during 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Linde by 0.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Linde by 6.4% during 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,128,233,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.11.

Linde Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $475.56 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $223.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s 50 day moving average is $452.70 and its 200 day moving average is $448.82. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The firm’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.