Ritholtz Wealth Management Acquires 348 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 10.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,756 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,692,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $644,986,000 after purchasing an additional 14,969 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP bought a new position in Linde during the second quarter worth $23,044,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $1,600,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd boosted its stake in Linde by 156.3% during the fourth quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 10,121 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,146,000 after acquiring an additional 6,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $1,679,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $448.93.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $464.32 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $437.90 and a 200-day moving average of $409.61. 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 12 month low of $348.38 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.16 earnings per share. Linde’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.