First Western Trust Bank Takes $220,000 Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 474 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,066,825,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Linde by 566.9% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,833,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $851,314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558,538 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Linde by 104.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,672,000 after acquiring an additional 468,415 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde by 91.6% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 968,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,648,000 after acquiring an additional 463,096 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 33,201.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $169,189,000 after purchasing an additional 410,705 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.0 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.16 on Thursday, reaching $453.34. The stock had a trading volume of 2,059,505 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,981,722. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $361.02 and a 12-month high of $477.71. The stock has a market cap of $217.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a 50-day moving average of $438.55 and a 200 day moving average of $439.09.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.42 EPS. Linde’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. HSBC dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.10.

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.