Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC Purchases Shares of 427 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 427 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $178,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $467.95 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $451.46 and a 200-day moving average of $447.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.38, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.11.

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.