Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Acquires 895 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,547 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 895 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $6,796,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $255,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 85,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,698,000 after buying an additional 2,408 shares in the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $726,000. Atlas Private Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Linde by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Management now owns 3,927 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,462,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toews Corp ADV bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $782,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.8 %

Linde stock traded down $3.39 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $441.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 643,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,178,832. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $456.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $421.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,058,131.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Seaport Res Ptn cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $460.00.

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.