U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 16,185 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 86.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,438 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 16,185 shares during the quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $1,135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. North Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $0.93 on Thursday, reaching $470.34. 2,237,051 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,973,993. The firm's 50 day moving average is $462.72 and its 200-day moving average is $452.02. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $221.40 billion, a PE ratio of 34.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Argus raised 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $518.80.

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.