Markel Group Inc. Grows Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Markel Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 9.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 143,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring 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.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Strategy Asset Managers LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 5.4% in the second quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 873 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $383,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,028,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 3,741 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,641,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 236.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,750 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $768,000 after buying an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Finally, Founders Financial Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 4.4% during the second quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 4,904 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,152,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $484.18.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded down $1.92 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $472.13. The stock had a trading volume of 1,310,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,896,652. The firm has a market capitalization of $225.44 billion, a PE ratio of 36.63, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $361.02 and a twelve month high of $479.79. The stock's 50 day moving average is $450.31 and its 200 day moving average is $447.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. Linde's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.57 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.