Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Raises Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 14,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $575,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $951,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Seven Mile Advisory grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,057,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $443.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day moving average is $456.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $420.75. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.16 EPS. Analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.