Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 27 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,186 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 27 shares during the period. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $915,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its position in Linde by 144.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup dropped their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.4 %

LIN opened at $440.83 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.94. 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 plc has a twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $435.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $453.11.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

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.