ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 30 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,031 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 30 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $492,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the first quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $830,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 1.7% during the third quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $652,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the third quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 49.0% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank increased its position in shares of Linde by 2.9% during the first quarter. CNB Bank now owns 847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $393,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $483.98 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $232.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $468.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $450.25. Linde plc has a one year low of $361.02 and a one year high of $485.32.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.49% and a return on equity of 17.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Linde from $495.00 to $516.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $477.00 target price on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $484.18.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.