Markel Group Inc. Buys 12,000 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Markel Group Inc. lifted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 143,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,000 shares during the quarter. Markel Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $62,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Members Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Linde by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the first quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 49.0% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.9% during the first quarter. CNB Bank now owns 847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $393,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $474.36. 257,172 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,890,968. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $226.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $449.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $447.39. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $361.02 and a 1-year high of $479.79.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.