WBH Advisory Inc. Sells 590 Shares of Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Key Points

• WBH Advisory Inc. has reduced its holdings in Linde PLC by 33.7%, selling 590 shares during the 1st quarter, bringing their total ownership to 1,161 shares, valued at approximately $541,000.
• Analysts have given Linde an average rating of "Buy" with a price target averaging $519.63, with upgrades from firms including Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
• Linde recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50, with an annualized yield of 1.3%, reflecting a payout ratio of 42.67%.

WBH Advisory Inc. reduced its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 33.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,161 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 590 shares during the quarter. WBH Advisory Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,752,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $325,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its holdings in Linde by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 68,460 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $28,662,000 after buying an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 80.4% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 2,253 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $943,000 after buying an additional 1,004 shares during the period. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP increased its holdings in Linde by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 3,714 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,555,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised 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, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

Linde Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $472.42 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $467.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $458.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Linde PLC has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $221.52 billion, a PE ratio of 33.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.92.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.85 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Linde's payout ratio is 42.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 480,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 59,557 shares of company stock worth $28,037,479. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LIN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.