Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Stake Lowered by Bridgeworth LLC

Bridgeworth LLC reduced its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,048 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 132 shares during the period. Bridgeworth LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LIN. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 122.6% in the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 309.5% in the 3rd quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 86 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $448.93.

Linde Stock Down 1.1 %

Linde stock traded down $5.25 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $456.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 546,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,312,522. The company has a market capitalization of $219.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $447.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $414.11. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde 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 sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Linde news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is 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.