Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC Acquires New Stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,142 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $532,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Wrapmanager Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $709,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC raised its stake in Linde by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its stake in Linde by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 3,116 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,305,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

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 transaction of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 sale, the vice president now owns 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 insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $455.86 on Friday. Linde PLC has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $457.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $449.17. The company has a market capitalization of $214.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.97. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.75 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, 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 for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $510.40.

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.

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