AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC Cuts Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC lessened its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 20.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,124 shares during the period. Linde accounts for approximately 0.9% of AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,980,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $472.71 on Friday. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $452.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $448.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Linde’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.75 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.11.

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.