Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 2,362 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 24.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,845 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,362 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up approximately 1.5% of Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Impact Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 4.3% during the first quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,426,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 5.2% during the first quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 11,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,262,000 after purchasing an additional 559 shares during the last quarter. Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the first quarter worth $224,000. Affinity Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 1.2% during the first quarter. Affinity Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,143,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Curat Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth $263,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 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. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $472.71 on Friday. Linde plc has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $452.49 and its 200 day moving average is $448.56. The stock has a market cap of $222.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.11.

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.