Western Wealth Management LLC Sells 32 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Western Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 32 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,984,243 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,103,185,000 after acquiring an additional 372,780 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Linde by 2.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,919,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,182,870,000 after buying an additional 354,506 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Linde by 6.0% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,587,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,315,068,000 after buying an additional 488,655 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $2,409,138,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,508,547 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,480,277,000 after acquiring an additional 479,188 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.2 %

Linde stock traded up $1.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $447.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 299,696 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,230,790. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $453.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $417.76.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is owned by 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.