Traveka Wealth LLC Grows Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Traveka Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,144 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $533,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Linde by 58,312.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,590,596,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410,087 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $468,360,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of LIN stock opened at $475.83 on Friday. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $223.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $461.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $451.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.95% and a net margin of 20.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $515.90.

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 owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 owned by company insiders.

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.