Independent Advisor Alliance Trims Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• Independent Advisor Alliance reduced its position in Linde PLC by 9.6%, selling 1,803 shares and retaining a total of 16,988 shares valued at approximately $7.91 million.
• Several institutional investors, including SouthState Corp and Nuveen LLC, have recently adjusted their stakes, indicating robust interest as institutional ownership now stands at 82.80%.
• Linde announced a quarterly dividend of $1.50, with a 1.3% dividend yield, reflecting a payout ratio of 42.67% and further affirming its financial stability.

Independent Advisor Alliance lessened its holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 9.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,988 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,803 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance's holdings in Linde were worth $7,910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. North Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Two 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $519.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 59,557 shares of company stock worth $28,037,479. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock traded up $2.40 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $475.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,797,807 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,486,557. The company's fifty day moving average is $467.99 and its 200-day moving average is $459.43. Linde PLC has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $223.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.67%.

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.