Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Motive Wealth Advisors

Motive Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 557 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the quarter. Motive Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Linde were worth $233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its stake in Linde by 144.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $440.83 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $435.90 and a 200-day moving average of $453.11. Linde plc has a one year low of $396.07 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $209.91 billion, a PE ratio of 33.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. Mizuho lifted their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

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.