Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Capital Investment Advisors LLC

Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 15.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 6,916 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,896,000 after buying an additional 874 shares during the period. Threadgill Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 114.9% in the 4th quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC now owns 14,771 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,184,000 after buying an additional 7,898 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 103,241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,224,000 after buying an additional 5,314 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 3,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the period. Finally, Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $427.98 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $438.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $453.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $203.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $396.07 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

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.