RMR Wealth Builders Has $1.96 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

RMR Wealth Builders increased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 10.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the quarter. RMR Wealth Builders’ holdings in Linde were worth $1,958,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Linde by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $354,000. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Linde by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,870,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. 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 stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $470.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $221.49 billion, a PE ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $454.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $449.06.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on LIN. Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.11.

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.