775 Shares in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Bought by Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc.

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 775 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its position in Linde by 122.6% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 310.0% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 347.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $464.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock traded down $2.29 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $427.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,320,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,208,454. The company has a market capitalization of $205.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company’s fifty day moving average is $454.81 and its 200-day moving average is $424.19. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

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.