Cwm LLC Increases Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cwm LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 526 shares during the quarter. Cwm LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 122.6% in the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE boosted its holdings in Linde by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $444.32 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $455.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $420.11. The firm has a market cap of $213.98 billion, a PE ratio of 35.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $350.60 and a 12-month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $456.79.

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.