Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,258 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,969,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 6.1% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Linde by 39.8% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,202 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,844,000 after buying an additional 1,196 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 120,352 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,812,000 after buying an additional 1,186 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its holdings in Linde by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 2,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $957,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 30,250.0% in the 2nd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 5,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,397,000 after buying an additional 5,445 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $436.00 on Monday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $436.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $452.97. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $396.07 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. 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 currently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.