Griffin Asset Management Inc. Purchases 60 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,307 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 60 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,540,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $510.40.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $465.98 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $455.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $449.12. The stock has a market cap of $219.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde 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 transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company’s 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 approximately $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.