Stonebrook Private Inc. Makes New Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Stonebrook Private Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LIN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its position in Linde by 122.6% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 310.0% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 42.2% in the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $445.07 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $456.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $421.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.16 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus cut 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $460.00.

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.