Bailard Inc. Raises Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bailard Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,560 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $10,971,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 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. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $459.67 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $216.38 billion, a PE ratio of 33.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $464.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $453.45. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during 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 period last year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $518.80.

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.