Focus Partners Wealth Lowers Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Focus Partners Wealth decreased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104,861 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,935 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Linde were worth $43,902,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.11.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $452.56 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $452.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $448.35. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $213.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.