4,793 Shares in Linde PLC $LIN Acquired by Avantax Planning Partners Inc.

Key Points

• Avantax Planning Partners acquired 4,793 Linde shares in the third quarter, worth approximately $2.275 million. Institutional investors own 82.8% of the company’s stock.
• Linde beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting EPS of $4.59 and revenue of $9.40 billion; revenue grew 9.3% year over year.
• Analysts’ consensus rating is Moderate Buy, with a $553.05 average price target. Linde also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.60 per share, equivalent to a 1.2% yield.

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,793 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $2,275,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 12.9% in the second quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 175 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in Linde by 0.5% during the first quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 4,159 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,062,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in Linde by 74.2% during the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 54 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Towercrest Capital Management raised its stake in Linde by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Towercrest Capital Management now owns 918 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Capital Management Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 55.6% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC now owns 70 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Linde from $549.00 to $568.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Linde from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Linde from $532.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Argus decreased their target price on Linde from $563.00 to $538.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Berenberg Bank restated a "buy" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $553.05.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $515.25 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $486.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $494.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $236.54 billion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.67. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $387.78 and a 1 year high of $548.20.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.52 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 20.32% and a net margin of 19.34%. The firm had revenue of $9.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.16 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.21 earnings per share. Linde's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 17.89 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 9,350 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $518.91, for a total transaction of $4,851,808.50. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,487,629.58. The trade was a 29.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 86,833 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $521.21, for a total transaction of $45,258,227.93. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 50,733 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,442,546.93. This trade represents a 63.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Linde Profile

Linde plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It produces and supplies atmospheric gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and argon, as well as hydrogen, helium and specialty gases. The company also designs and builds equipment and facilities used to produce and process gases.

Linde serves customers across industries including healthcare, manufacturing, chemicals, food and beverage, electronics and energy. Its operations span the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

The company was formed in 2018 through the merger of Germany's Linde AG and U.S.-based Praxair, bringing together businesses with long histories in industrial gases and engineering.

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