GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lessened its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 23 shares during the quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $570,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,796,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,434,406,000 after purchasing an additional 141,322 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group grew its holdings in Linde by 655.7% in the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $203,000. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 5,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,168,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Portfolio Design Labs LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth $1,897,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on LIN. Citigroup upped their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. 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, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $484.18.

Linde Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $3.09 on Thursday, reaching $454.27. The stock had a trading volume of 187,958 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,945,436. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $361.02 and a 12-month high of $477.71. The company has a market cap of $216.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $441.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $442.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.57 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.