Griffin Asset Management Inc. Buys 60 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,307 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,540,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 1,160.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in 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 raised its stake in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 1.0%

Linde stock opened at $465.98 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $455.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $449.12. The company has a market cap of $219.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The firm’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.75 EPS. Analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. 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

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Finally, 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, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.40.

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.