HB Wealth Management LLC Acquires 5,950 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 47.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,512 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,950 shares during the quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $8,620,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $88,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 4.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC lifted its position in Linde by 300.3% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,948,000 after buying an additional 19,618 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 22,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,287,000 after buying an additional 4,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Taurus Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 55,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,031,000 after buying an additional 484 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Up 0.3%

Linde stock opened at $472.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $222.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.34, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.96. 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 PLC has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $466.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $456.27.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.75 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Linde’s payout ratio is 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.