NewSquare Capital LLC Increases Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 42.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 497 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 147 shares during the quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $231,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Greystone Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 24.8% during the first quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 22,712 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,576,000 after buying an additional 4,510 shares during the period. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA boosted its holdings in Linde by 22.5% during the 1st quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 25,842 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,033,000 after acquiring an additional 1,129 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Linde by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $890,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 24.9% in the first quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ LIN opened at $472.17 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $452.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $448.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.26 billion, a PE ratio of 34.69, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.75 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

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.