Aspiriant LLC Decreases Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Aspiriant LLC lowered its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 998 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 28 shares during the period. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group purchased a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $452.50.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $450.49 on Thursday. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week 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 company has a market capitalization of $216.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $448.92 and a 200-day moving average of $414.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

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.