Shelton Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Shelton Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,560 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $653,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its position in shares of Linde by 144.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LIN. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.8 %

LIN stock opened at $436.00 on Friday. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $437.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $452.77. The company has a market capitalization of $207.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

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.