Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc.

Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,230 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $573,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Linde by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,598,551,000 after buying an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Linde by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,857,741,000 after purchasing an additional 554,480 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,128,233,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on LIN. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $510.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde 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 now directly owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, 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 corporate insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of LIN opened at $470.53 on Friday. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $454.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $449.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Linde Company 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.