Valmark Advisers Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,600,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,480,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,045,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd raised its position in Linde by 156.3% in the fourth quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 10,121 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,146,000 after acquiring an additional 6,172 shares during the period. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,679,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of LIN traded down $0.65 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $443.18. 1,583,773 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,507,545. The firm has a market cap of $213.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.17, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $350.60 and a 12-month high of $477.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $456.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $420.75.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 over the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.