Empirical Asset Management LLC Has $7.36 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Empirical Asset Management LLC grew its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 15.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,581 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,368 shares during the quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $7,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Cvfg LLC bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $331,000. JGP Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. StrongBox Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. StrongBox Wealth LLC now owns 9,569 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,006,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the period. Financial Enhancement Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,214,000. Finally, Flywheel Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $230,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on LIN shares. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.75.

Linde Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $432.49 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $205.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $437.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $452.91.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.