Bridgeworth LLC Cuts Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bridgeworth LLC lessened its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,048 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 132 shares during the period. Bridgeworth LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 122.6% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Halpern Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 309.5% during the third quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 86 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ LIN traded down $5.25 on Tuesday, reaching $456.42. 546,539 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,312,522. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $447.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $414.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $350.60 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.16 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price target on Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $448.93.

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.