Stewardship Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 436 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Stewardship Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 436 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 34.9% during 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. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $465.98 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $219.35 billion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $455.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $449.01. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) 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 return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.75 EPS. Analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $510.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.