Welch & Forbes LLC Purchases 2,376 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Welch & Forbes LLC lifted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 92,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,376 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $38,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $575,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $951,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Seven Mile Advisory increased its position in Linde by 4.2% in the third quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,057,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Linde stock traded up $3.02 during trading on Monday, hitting $426.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,533,480 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,225,953. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $455.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $423.74. The stock has a market cap of $205.07 billion, a PE ratio of 33.10, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on LIN. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. HSBC reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Mizuho boosted their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $464.69.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.