Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Buys 292 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 292 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,139,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Callan Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $1,441,000. EagleClaw Capital Managment LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. EagleClaw Capital Managment LLC now owns 26,885 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,256,000 after buying an additional 1,175 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $596,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 100,099 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,908,000 after buying an additional 2,561 shares during the last quarter. Finally, E Fund Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 40.8% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,522,000 after buying an additional 3,128 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup decreased their target price 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. TD Cowen raised shares of 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 research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $468.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $221.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.44, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $444.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $455.29.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. 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.