Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Increases Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 20.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,127 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $891,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Linde by 85.2% during the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,021 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Linde by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after purchasing an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $625,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 in the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of LIN opened at $468.77 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $444.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $455.24. The company has a market cap of $221.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Linde 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.