Costello Asset Management INC Purchases New Shares in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC grew its position in Linde by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 12,926 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,019,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd grew its position in Linde by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 4,333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,018,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV grew its position in Linde by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 639,081 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $297,582,000 after acquiring an additional 84,233 shares during the last quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Linde by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $343,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Linde by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 98,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $45,904,000 after acquiring an additional 6,203 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $469.84 on Wednesday. Linde PLC has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $467.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $458.23. The company has a market capitalization of $220.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.42, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $519.63.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.