Prentice Wealth Management LLC Purchases 87 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Prentice Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $611,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde by 310.0% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Linde by 347.6% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A acquired a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. HSBC decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $468.83.

Linde Trading Down 0.6 %

LIN traded down $2.79 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $438.38. 572,816 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,061,758. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $436.15 and a 200 day moving average of $433.57. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $358.37 and a 12-month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.42 EPS. Linde’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.51 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.