Capital Investment Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 24.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $701,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Wrapmanager Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC lifted its position in Linde by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 3,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,305,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of LIN opened at $475.56 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $452.70 and a 200 day moving average of $448.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.94, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research 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 Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three 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. According to MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.11.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents 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.

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.