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

MCF Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 17.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the quarter. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $69,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 144.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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. Mizuho increased their price objective 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. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $442.60 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.61, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $436.18 and a 200 day moving average of $453.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm 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 business’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

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.