Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by U S Global Investors Inc.

U S Global Investors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 60.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the period. U S Global Investors Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $373,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $88,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 168,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $70,337,000 after purchasing an additional 13,000 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,261,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 138,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $57,986,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 300.3% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,948,000 after purchasing an additional 19,618 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.1%

Linde stock opened at $463.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $458.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $449.63.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. Linde’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS 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 issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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. 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.40.

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.