Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NYSE:LIN)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) by 4.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 37 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charter Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 5.3% in the first quarter. Charter Trust Co. now owns 636 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,624 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 984 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA raised its stake in shares of Linde by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 1,234 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 72.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $301.97 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $296.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $304.23. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $265.12 and a fifty-two week high of $352.18. The firm has a market cap of $150.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Linde (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.99 by $0.11. Linde had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 13.41%. The company had revenue of $8.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.70 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 11.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 2nd will be issued a $1.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 1st. This represents a $4.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Linde from $370.00 to $369.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 13th. AlphaValue raised shares of Linde to a “reduce” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 3rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Linde from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $355.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 31st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Linde from $390.00 to $355.00 in a report on Thursday, June 16th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Tuesday, May 31st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.86.

Linde Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas and engineering company in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia 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.