Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock Position Boosted by Aviance Capital Partners LLC

Aviance Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,976 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises 1.6% of Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $7,383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,919,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,182,870,000 after purchasing an additional 354,506 shares during the period. Winder Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $1,892,774,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,081,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,891,976,000 after acquiring an additional 123,174 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.6% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,960,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,102,475,000 after acquiring an additional 75,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,766,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,030,146,000 after acquiring an additional 9,541 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen raised their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price objective on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $464.69.

Linde Trading Up 0.7 %

LIN stock traded up $3.02 during trading on Monday, reaching $426.62. 1,533,480 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,225,953. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $455.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $423.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.07 billion, a PE ratio of 33.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

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.