Meridian Wealth Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,874 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Winder Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,892,774,000. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,672,000 after purchasing an additional 468,415 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at about $168,636,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 33,201.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $169,189,000 after purchasing an additional 410,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Linde by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,592,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $973,865,000 after purchasing an additional 391,153 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of LIN opened at $432.52 on Friday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $350.60 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $450.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.88.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 77,948 shares of company stock valued at $35,687,605 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Mizuho raised their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. TD Cowen upped their price target 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. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $468.83.

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.