Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Armstrong Advisory Group Inc.

Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. grew its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 28.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 171 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $72,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 34.1% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,164 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $950,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 29,641 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,007,000 after acquiring an additional 2,004 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 15.8% in the second quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 908 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $398,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 15.6% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 19,768 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,674,000 after acquiring an additional 2,670 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 6.1% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $432.49 on Friday. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $205.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50-day moving average is $437.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $452.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.