Aviance Capital Partners LLC Buys 51 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,976 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Linde comprises about 1.6% of Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $7,383,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LIN. Welch & Forbes LLC grew its position in Linde by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 92,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,002,000 after acquiring an additional 2,376 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 70.6% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,520 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,267,000 after purchasing an additional 2,285 shares in the last quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $400,000. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Linde by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,672,000 after buying an additional 468,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 1,359 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $558,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research began coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $464.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $3.02 on Monday, hitting $426.62. 1,533,480 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,225,953. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $455.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $423.74. Linde plc has a one year low of $350.60 and a one year high of $477.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.10, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.