Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 8,053 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,307,000. Linde accounts for about 3.4% of Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 122.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Provence Wealth Management Group purchased a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded down $2.23 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $444.20. 470,717 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,233,232. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $350.60 and a 12-month high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $213.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $453.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $417.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The firm 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 firm earned $3.16 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was 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 directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on LIN. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $456.79.

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.