Wealth Alliance Reduces Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Wealth Alliance reduced its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,370 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 48 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 122.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Provence Wealth Management Group purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded up $1.25 on Tuesday, reaching $446.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 852,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,277,133. The company has a market capitalization of $214.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $451.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $416.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. Analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Mizuho raised their price target on Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $456.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.