Thomasville National Bank Grows Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Thomasville National Bank raised its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,867 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the quarter. Thomasville National Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm’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 owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $470.53 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $454.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $449.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $221.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.75 EPS. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Linde’s 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.