Financial & Tax Architects LLC Increases Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Financial & Tax Architects LLC grew its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,326 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $555,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Shelton Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $653,000. Wallington Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 71,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,973,000 after buying an additional 785 shares during the last quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,178,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Trium Capital LLP raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Trium Capital LLP now owns 4,962 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,077,000 after buying an additional 1,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LIN. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.75.

Linde Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ LIN traded up $3.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $436.00. 2,395,144 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,152,630. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $396.07 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $437.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $452.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.61 billion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% 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.