Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Raises Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 138,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,621 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $58,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 232,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $97,501,000 after acquiring an additional 5,550 shares during the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp lifted its holdings in Linde by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 2,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $924,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $209,000. West Branch Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 2,074 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $868,000 after buying an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 1,080 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen raised 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 note on Monday, January 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $440.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $435.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $453.11. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $396.07 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid 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 dividend yield of 1.26%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Linde Company 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.