Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Sells 5,768 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lessened its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 10.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,448 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,768 shares during the period. Linde accounts for approximately 1.6% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Linde were worth $22,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Wrapmanager Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC increased its stake in Linde by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Austin Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Linde by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its stake in Linde by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 3,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.11.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $475.56 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $452.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $448.82. The company has a market capitalization of $223.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.94, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company’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 owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.