Choate Investment Advisors Purchases 3,437 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Choate Investment Advisors raised its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 23.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,437 shares during the period. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Linde were worth $8,366,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. First Pacific Financial acquired a new stake in Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 44.4% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 310.0% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho increased their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, HSBC decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $464.25.

Linde Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of LIN stock traded down $2.52 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $438.18. 1,270,606 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,026,969. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $434.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $435.79. The company has a market cap of $210.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $361.02 and a 1-year high of $477.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.42 EPS. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Linde Company 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.