Northstar Advisory Group LLC Has $1.24 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Northstar Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,024 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Northstar Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in Linde by 0.9% during the second quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,692,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $644,986,000 after acquiring an additional 14,969 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new stake in Linde during the second quarter worth approximately $23,044,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,600,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd lifted its position in Linde by 156.3% during the fourth quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 10,121 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,146,000 after acquiring an additional 6,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,679,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $448.93.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $463.94 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $348.38 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The stock has a market cap of $223.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s fifty day moving average is $436.71 and its 200 day moving average is $409.21.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.16 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th will be issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

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.