Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,319 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $13,498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 144.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 38.6% in the 4th quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 97 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management grew its position in Linde by 34.2% in the fourth quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $451.17 on Thursday. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $213.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $447.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $455.13.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. As a group, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

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.