Exeter Financial LLC Acquires 54 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Exeter Financial LLC raised its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,874 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the quarter. Exeter Financial LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,459,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 16.9% during the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Prentice Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 1.7% in the third quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $873,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on LIN. Citigroup decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.75.

Linde Trading Up 1.8 %

Linde stock opened at $421.43 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $200.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.00, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $439.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $453.16.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.63 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

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.