Weaver Capital Management LLC Invests $396,000 in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Weaver Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 851 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $396,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on LIN. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $510.40.

Linde Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of LIN stock opened at $455.86 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $457.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $449.17. The company has a market cap of $214.58 billion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.97. 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 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.