Integrated Advisors Network LLC Buys 631 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 32.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 631 shares during the quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were 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 now directly owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% 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 corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued 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.

Linde Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of Linde stock opened at $470.53 on Friday. 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 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $454.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $449.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 1.28%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

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.