Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. cut its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,988 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 190 shares during the quarter. Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $477.00 price objective on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $430.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Linde from $460.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $484.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total value of $4,639,068.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,584 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,136,996. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $468.81 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $223.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $454.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $448.66. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $361.02 and a 1 year high of $479.79.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 17.92% and a net margin of 19.49%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.57 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 4th will be given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.