First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services Raises Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services grew its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 14,289 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Linde makes up about 1.4% of First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services’ holdings in Linde were worth $5,982,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 16.9% during the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.7% during the third quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the third quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the third quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.9% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 851 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $436.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $207.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $396.07 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $437.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $452.77. 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 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 business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.63 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now 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.

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.