Net Worth Advisory Group Reduces Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Net Worth Advisory Group lowered its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 23 shares during the quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group’s holdings in Linde were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Linde by 58,312.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,590,596,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410,087 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Linde by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,834,631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $468,360,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was 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 $10,346,928.56. The trade was a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.4%

LIN opened at $470.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $454.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $449.06. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

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.