Assetmark Inc. Acquires 5,182 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 25.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,182 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $10,615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Provence Wealth Management Group purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 310.0% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 347.6% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $48,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde 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 directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,948 shares of company stock worth $35,687,605. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $434.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 409,855 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,120,583. The stock has a market cap of $209.05 billion, a PE ratio of 33.75, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $449.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $428.08. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $350.60 and a 52 week high of $477.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.42 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LIN. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. TD Cowen raised their target price on 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 research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $468.83.

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.