Segment Wealth Management LLC Acquires 193 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Segment Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 30,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Segment Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $12,740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Linde by 39.8% in the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,202 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,844,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Linde by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 120,352 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its position in shares of Linde by 7.6% during the second quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 2,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $957,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Linde by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 99,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $43,492,000 after buying an additional 11,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Linde during the second quarter valued at approximately $101,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock opened at $436.00 on Tuesday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $207.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $436.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $453.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

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.