Bfsg LLC Sells 303 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bfsg LLC cut its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 12,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 303 shares during the quarter. Bfsg LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position 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 worth $1,590,596,000 after buying an additional 3,410,087 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position 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 worth $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the period. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $468,360,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were 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 $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. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.40.

Linde Stock Up 0.1%

LIN opened at $466.60 on Tuesday. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $219.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $456.33 and a 200-day moving average of $449.05.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.75 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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