Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $366,000 in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 890 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $366,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $2,409,138,000. Winder Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth about $1,892,774,000. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 888.7% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,741,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,329,889,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,112 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 55.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,457,759 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,780,213,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956,394 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 450.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,141,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $698,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,752,456 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research began coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $456.79.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock traded down $5.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $447.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,976,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,267,283. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $450.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $416.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $215.46 billion, a PE ratio of 35.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $350.60 and a 1-year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.16 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date was 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%.

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.