Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Trims Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC decreased its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,636 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 58 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 4.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $254,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 628 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC boosted its position in Linde by 7.0% during the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,349 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ziegler Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at about $219,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. 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. Citigroup downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Linde Trading Up 0.2 %

Linde stock opened at $446.97 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $215.25 billion, a PE ratio of 35.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $454.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $419.43. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.16 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. 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.