Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC Acquires 404 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 404 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 310.0% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 347.6% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $2.85 on Thursday, reaching $432.94. 865,090 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,724,658. 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 company has a market capitalization of $208.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.59, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $358.37 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $435.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $434.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. HSBC dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $468.83.

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.