Keener Financial Planning LLC Purchases Shares of 488 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Keener Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 488 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. TradeLink Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,523,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its position in Linde by 36.4% during the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 1,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $566,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $957,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its stake in Linde by 15.3% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,380 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter worth $6,682,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded down $3.73 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $457.94. The company had a trading volume of 1,436,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,326,015. The company has a market capitalization of $220.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $350.60 and a 12-month high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $447.01 and a 200-day moving average of $414.11.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s 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 approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $448.93.

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.