Evernest Financial Advisors LLC Takes $277,000 Position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Evernest Financial Advisors LLC has acquired a new position in Linde PLC, purchasing 594 shares valued at approximately $277,000 during the first quarter.
• Insider activity saw VP David P. Strauss and VP Sean Durbin sell a combined total of 9,248 shares, indicating a significant decrease in their ownership stakes.
• Linde recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.3%, reflecting a 42.67% dividend payout ratio.

Evernest Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 594 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. North Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Linde in the first quarter worth $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in Linde in the first quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.63.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total value of $23,815,274.42. Following the sale, the director directly owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. The trade was a 9.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 59,557 shares of company stock valued at $28,037,479 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $5.48 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $466.95. The company had a trading volume of 345,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,090,234. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $218.96 billion, a PE ratio of 33.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $467.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $459.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.85 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 42.67%.

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.