Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. Raises Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Linde by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,857,741,000 after purchasing an additional 554,480 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,128,233,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business’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 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 represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.40.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $463.16 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $458.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $449.28. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.02 billion, a PE ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.