Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Acquired by WoodTrust Financial Corp

WoodTrust Financial Corp grew its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 319 shares during the quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,590,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Linde by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 310.0% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Linde by 347.6% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. HSBC lowered their price objective on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $468.83.

Linde Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of LIN traded down $1.41 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $438.81. 2,470,164 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,763,077. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $435.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $433.86. The company has a market cap of $210.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.95. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $358.37 and a 1-year high of $477.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

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.