Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC Buys New Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 494 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Winder Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $1,892,774,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $168,636,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 33,201.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $169,189,000 after purchasing an additional 410,705 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Linde by 17.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,592,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $973,865,000 after purchasing an additional 391,153 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Linde by 53.1% in the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,033,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $384,681,000 after purchasing an additional 358,492 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded down $0.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $443.18. 1,583,773 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,507,545. The company has a market cap of $213.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.17, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $456.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $421.04. 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 12-month low of $350.60 and a 12-month high of $477.71.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

About Linde

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.