Western Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Western Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 32 shares during the quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,518,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $1,600,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,480,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,045,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd boosted its stake in Linde by 156.3% in the 4th quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 10,121 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,146,000 after purchasing an additional 6,172 shares during the period. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $1,679,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded up $1.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $447.46. 299,696 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,230,790. 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 company has a market cap of $215.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $453.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $417.76. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $350.60 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced 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 return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.16 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. 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 research note on Monday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $456.79.

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.