RWA Wealth Partners LLC Has $27.50 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

RWA Wealth Partners LLC lowered its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 853 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $27,499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $241,000. Allianz SE bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,583,000. Cambridge Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,451,000. Allstate Corp raised its stake in shares of Linde by 2,958.1% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 14,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,953,000 after buying an additional 13,755 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS raised its position in shares of Linde by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 94,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,426,000 after acquiring an additional 3,240 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on LIN. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $459.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a 50-day moving average of $456.09 and a 200-day moving average of $454.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $217.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.