Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV Decreases Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lowered its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 25.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 301 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 105 shares during the quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in Linde were worth $126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wrapmanager Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Austin Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup lowered 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 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, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Down 0.4 %

LIN stock opened at $457.75 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $452.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $454.63. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $410.69 and a 52-week 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 firm has a market capitalization of $216.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.