Royal Fund Management LLC Invests $348,000 in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Royal Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 144.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 1,733.3% during the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned 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 $495.75.

Linde Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $442.46 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company’s 50 day moving average is $436.44 and its 200 day moving average is $453.14. The company has a market cap of $210.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.45 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. The trade was a 75.19 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.