UMB Bank n.a. Has $37.91 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

UMB Bank n.a. decreased its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 81,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 408 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Linde were worth $37,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in Linde by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $88,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 168,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $70,337,000 after buying an additional 13,000 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,261,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 138,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $57,986,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 300.3% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,948,000 after acquiring an additional 19,618 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Linde Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $472.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $222.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $452.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $448.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

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