Breakwater Capital Group Increases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Breakwater Capital Group increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 64.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 958 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. Breakwater Capital Group’s holdings in Linde were worth $446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $470.26 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. The company has a market cap of $221.36 billion, a PE ratio of 34.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $452.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $448.36. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its 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 return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade 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 Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.