Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Increases Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 43.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 983 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 122.6% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its holdings in Linde by 42.2% in the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $443.83 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $455.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $420.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $350.60 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 44.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Profile

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.