Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. Buys 249 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. grew its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 30.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,059 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. grew its position in Linde by 85.2% in the 4th quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Linde by 6.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,021 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Linde by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the period. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $625,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $464.73 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $455.63 and a 200 day moving average of $454.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.78 billion, a PE ratio of 34.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.