MCF Advisors LLC Acquires 30 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 26.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 143 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the quarter. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $59,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 122.6% during the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its position in Linde by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $53,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $446.97 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $454.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $419.43. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $350.60 and a 12-month high of $477.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $215.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.47, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors 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 yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of 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 shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Mizuho raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $456.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde 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.