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

Alpha Family Trust boosted its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 126.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,470 shares during the period. Linde makes up 0.7% of Alpha Family Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Alpha Family Trust’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its stake in Linde by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 5,619 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,466,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Plancorp LLC grew its stake in Linde by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $497,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in Linde by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 66,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,350,000 after buying an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in Linde by 72.3% in the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 10,641 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,669,000 after buying an additional 4,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 34.1% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,164 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $950,000 after buying an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price target on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $474.91 on Tuesday. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $361.02 and a 1 year high of $479.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50-day moving average is $455.31 and its 200 day moving average is $448.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.57 earnings per share. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Insider Activity at Linde

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