Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Nixon Peabody Trust Co.

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. raised its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 481.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 37,085 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 30,703 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises about 1.7% of Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in Linde were worth $15,231,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 310.0% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Linde by 347.6% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its holdings in Linde by 42.2% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,058,131.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 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. Insiders sold a total of 77,948 shares of company stock valued at $35,687,605 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $3.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $435.57. The stock had a trading volume of 1,157,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,119,008. The firm has a market cap of $209.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $350.60 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $447.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $428.15.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The company 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%. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.42 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.5 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a $1.39 dividend. 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 is currently 43.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. 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. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $468.83.

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.