Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Has $472,000 Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. lessened its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 55 shares during the period. Aurora Private Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $2,409,138,000. Winder Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at about $1,892,774,000. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Linde by 888.7% during the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,741,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,329,889,000 after buying an additional 3,363,112 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Linde by 55.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,457,759 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,780,213,000 after acquiring an additional 1,956,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 450.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,141,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $698,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,752,456 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN traded down $2.63 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $444.78. 611,764 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,281,801. The company has a market cap of $214.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $450.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $416.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.16 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Linde’s payout ratio is 44.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $456.79.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Company 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.