Bard Financial Services Inc. Sells 30 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bard Financial Services Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 665 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 30 shares during the period. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wrapmanager Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Austin Wealth Management LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Down 1.5%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $468.54 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $220.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.43, 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 plc has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $453.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $448.95.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, 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 transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.