U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Has $1.14 Million Stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 86.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,438 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 16,185 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $1,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Knuff & Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 8.8% during the fourth 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. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 5.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 0.3% in the first quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,883,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 20.2% in the first quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $518.80.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN traded down $2.55 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $467.79. 609,026 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,970,315. The stock's fifty day moving average is $463.17 and its 200 day moving average is $452.35. The stock has a market cap of $220.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. Linde PLC has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.75 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was 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 owned 22,639 shares in the company, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.