Strategic Blueprint LLC Acquires 51 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,342 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 122.6% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 309.5% during the third quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 86 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $457.94 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $220.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $448.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $414.71. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $350.60 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.16 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Linde’s payout ratio is 44.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $448.93.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.