RWA Wealth Partners LLC Sells 853 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

RWA Wealth Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 65,682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 853 shares during the quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $27,499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $241,000. Allianz SE bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,583,000. Cambridge Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,451,000. Allstate Corp raised its position in shares of Linde by 2,958.1% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 14,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,953,000 after purchasing an additional 13,755 shares during the period. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 94,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,426,000 after buying an additional 3,240 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 1.2 %

Linde stock opened at $459.11 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $456.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $454.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $217.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.