Cetera Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 53.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,070 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,226 shares during the quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,604,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. First Pacific Financial purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter valued at $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 49.0% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Up 0.1 %

LIN stock traded up $0.66 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $454.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,714,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,497,816. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.22, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $361.02 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $439.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $439.50.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.57 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.49 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lifted their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $477.25.

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.