Clearstead Trust LLC Has $2.28 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Clearstead Trust LLC grew its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,919,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,182,870,000 after buying an additional 354,506 shares during the period. Winder Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $1,892,774,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Linde by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,081,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,891,976,000 after purchasing an additional 123,174 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in Linde by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,960,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,102,475,000 after purchasing an additional 75,000 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,766,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,030,146,000 after purchasing an additional 9,541 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at $26,271,882.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $460.15.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $3.98 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $423.60. The stock had a trading volume of 2,657,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,803,659. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $350.60 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The stock has a market cap of $204.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.86, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $455.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $422.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. Linde’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

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.