Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Invests $223,000 in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. acquired a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 481 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vicus Capital bought a new position in shares of Linde in the first quarter worth about $504,000. WoodTrust Financial Corp grew its position in Linde by 6.1% during the first quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 5,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,590,000 after buying an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC grew its position in Linde by 6.0% during the first quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 864 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 6.0% during the first quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,436 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,124,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DeDora Capital Inc. grew its position in Linde by 0.7% during the first quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 4,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,042,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. HSBC decreased their price objective on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $468.83.

Linde Trading Down 0.3 %

LIN stock traded down $1.41 during trading on Friday, hitting $438.81. The company had a trading volume of 2,470,164 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,763,077. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $435.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $433.91. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $358.37 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The stock has a market cap of $210.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.04, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.95.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.42 EPS. Linde’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 4th were given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

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.