Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Decreases Stock Holdings in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lessened its position in shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 10.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,598 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 753 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in Linde were worth $3,072,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Knuff & Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Rockingstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,883,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 20.2% in the 1st quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.6%

LIN stock traded down $2.72 during trading on Friday, reaching $467.63. The stock had a trading volume of 643,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,191,277. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company's 50 day moving average is $463.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $452.35. The company has a market capitalization of $220.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. 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 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 directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This trade represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Linde 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.