Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC Takes $207,000 Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $318,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,830,970 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,162,708,000 after purchasing an additional 64,362 shares in the last quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc grew its stake in Linde by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 1,055 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Linde by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 17,976 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,383,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Welch & Forbes LLC grew its stake in Linde by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 92,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,002,000 after purchasing an additional 2,376 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock traded up $3.38 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $430.00. 1,549,456 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,218,466. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $454.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $206.69 billion, a PE ratio of 33.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a one year low of $350.60 and a one year high of $477.71.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Citigroup lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $464.69.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, 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 value of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.