RMR Wealth Builders Acquires 366 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

RMR Wealth Builders raised its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 18.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders’ holdings in Linde were worth $951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its position in Linde by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,919,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,182,870,000 after purchasing an additional 354,506 shares in the last quarter. Winder Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,892,774,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Linde by 2.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,081,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,891,976,000 after acquiring an additional 123,174 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in Linde by 2.6% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,960,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,102,475,000 after purchasing an additional 75,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,830,970 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,162,708,000 after purchasing an additional 64,362 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,948 shares of company stock valued at $35,687,605 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $427.71 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $454.81 and a 200 day moving average of $424.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $205.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $464.69.

Linde Company 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.