Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock Position Reduced by Bryant Woods Investment Advisors LLC

Bryant Woods Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,217 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 392 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up about 0.8% of Bryant Woods Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Bryant Woods Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,322,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its position in Linde by 122.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock traded down $1.32 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $466.23. The company had a trading volume of 1,590,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,424,013. The company has a 50 day moving average of $436.71 and a 200-day moving average of $409.21. The firm has a market cap of $224.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.98, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $344.56 and a 52 week high of $477.71.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $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, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. TD Cowen upped 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. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde has an average 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.