Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Position Increased by Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH

Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH lifted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,105 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH’s holdings in Linde were worth $515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 58,312.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,590,596,000 after buying an additional 3,410,087 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $468,360,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, 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 company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of 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, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.40.

Linde Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $465.98 on Monday. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $455.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.01. The company has a market cap of $219.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The business’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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 paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

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.