Valmark Advisers Inc. Grows Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Winder Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,892,774,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $168,636,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 33,201.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $169,189,000 after buying an additional 410,705 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Linde by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,592,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $973,865,000 after buying an additional 391,153 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Linde by 53.1% during the 3rd quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,033,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $384,681,000 after purchasing an additional 358,492 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.65 during trading on Friday, reaching $443.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,583,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,507,545. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $456.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $420.75. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $350.60 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Mizuho upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s 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 worth $35,811,988 in the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.