First Foundation Advisors Has $11.68 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

First Foundation Advisors lowered its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,566 shares during the quarter. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Linde were worth $11,681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Pacific Financial acquired a new position in Linde during the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 49.0% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 44.4% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded down $1.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $444.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,503,763 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,609,324. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $361.02 and a 52 week high of $477.71. The company’s 50-day moving average is $436.08 and its 200-day moving average is $436.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $213.78 billion, a PE ratio of 34.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup increased 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. HSBC cut their price objective on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Six 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $464.25.

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.