Traynor Capital Management Inc. Purchases 202 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Traynor Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 24,713 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,347,000 after buying an additional 2,526 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 138,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,024,000 after acquiring an additional 2,621 shares in the last quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Linde by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 232,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $97,501,000 after purchasing an additional 5,550 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp lifted its position in shares of Linde by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 2,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $924,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares during the period. Finally, Madison Park Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $209,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on LIN. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. 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 business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $442.60 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $396.07 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $436.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $453.18.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

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