Realta Investment Advisors Buys New Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Realta Investment Advisors purchased a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $575,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Linde by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Seven Mile Advisory raised its holdings in Linde by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas lifted its position in shares of Linde by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 411 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $465,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock opened at $463.40 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $440.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $410.84. The company has a market capitalization of $223.16 billion, a PE ratio of 36.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $350.60 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released 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. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.16 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $448.93.

About Linde

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.