Hoxton Planning & Management LLC Takes $423,000 Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Hoxton Planning & Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 909 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $423,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $460.26 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $216.65 billion, a PE ratio of 33.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $467.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $457.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Linde PLC has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.57%.

Linde Company 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.