MCF Advisors LLC Acquires 30 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

MCF Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 26.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 143 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the quarter. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $59,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $1,600,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,480,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,045,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd grew its stake in shares of Linde by 156.3% during the fourth quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 10,121 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,146,000 after buying an additional 6,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,679,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Mizuho upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following 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. Insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $446.97 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $215.25 billion, a PE ratio of 35.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $454.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $419.43. 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 plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.16 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. 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. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s payout ratio is 44.13%.

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.