Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,336 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,101 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $43,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 133.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $435.30 on Friday. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.05, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $461.53 and a 200 day moving average of $455.42.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 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 report on Tuesday, November 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $490.75.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.