Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Buys 1,000 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 35.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,554,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Winder Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth $1,892,774,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth $168,636,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 33,201.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $169,189,000 after purchasing an additional 410,705 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Linde by 17.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,592,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $973,865,000 after purchasing an additional 391,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Linde by 53.1% in the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,033,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $384,681,000 after purchasing an additional 358,492 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a 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 $460.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $440.96 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $212.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $456.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $422.26.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The business’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 firm posted $3.16 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

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.