North Star Investment Management Corp. Acquires 300 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1,428.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 321 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp.’s holdings in Linde were worth $149,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $466.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap 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. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $456.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $449.05. 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 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. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for 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%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.75 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. 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 is currently 43.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on LIN. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.