B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 963 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,373 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 963 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $3,087,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,128,233,000. Capital World Investors increased its position in Linde by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $468,360,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 56,467.9% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $459,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,041 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,725 shares of company stock valued at $5,385,750 over the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on LIN. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.11.

Linde Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ LIN traded up $1.57 on Thursday, hitting $464.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,306,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,955,503. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $218.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $451.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $447.74. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

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.