Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,604 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Linde by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,857,741,000 after acquiring an additional 554,480 shares in the last quarter. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $2,128,233,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Linde by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,925,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,062,085,000 after acquiring an additional 500,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Linde by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,818,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,598,737,000 after acquiring an additional 265,455 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $518.80.

Linde Stock Down 1.3%

LIN stock opened at $460.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $467.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $457.33. The stock has a market cap of $216.65 billion, a PE ratio of 33.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company 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.