General Partner Inc. Increases Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

General Partner Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 998 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the quarter. General Partner Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,218,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. M3 Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $246,000. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $567,000. Finally, Leo Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $373,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 0.8 %

Linde stock traded down $3.50 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $437.13. 347,884 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,062,517. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $358.37 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The company has a market capitalization of $210.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.18, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $437.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $431.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, HSBC lowered their price target on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $468.83.

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.