Alpha Family Trust Acquires 1,470 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Alpha Family Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 126.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,470 shares during the period. Linde comprises approximately 0.7% of Alpha Family Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Alpha Family Trust’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,154,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,676,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,744,033,000 after purchasing an additional 405,952 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,434,406,000 after acquiring an additional 141,322 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,959,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,624,462,000 after acquiring an additional 138,585 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,893,414 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,343,470,000 after acquiring an additional 66,880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,953,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $906,730,000 after acquiring an additional 23,155 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $474.91 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $455.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $448.84. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $361.02 and a 1-year high of $479.79. The company has a market cap of $228.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.84, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.57 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America increased their price target on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Barclays increased their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,136,996. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by 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.