Schear Investment Advisers LLC Boosts Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,486 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,021,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 122.6% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. 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. UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $456.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde 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 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 at this hyperlink. In related 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. 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 in the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $446.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 678,257 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,235,913. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $453.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $417.76. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The company has a market capitalization of $214.93 billion, a PE ratio of 35.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. Linde’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.16 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

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.