Schear Investment Advisers LLC Has $2.02 Million Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,334 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Linde comprises approximately 1.2% of Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abound Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.3%

LIN stock opened at $468.81 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $220.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $463.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $452.84. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 value of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $518.80.

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.