Paradigm Financial Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Paradigm Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 17.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 658 shares during the quarter. Paradigm Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,831,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 122.6% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its holdings in Linde by 42.2% during the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded down $0.65 during trading on Friday, hitting $443.18. 1,583,773 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,507,545. The company has a market cap of $213.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.17, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $456.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $421.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on LIN. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $456.79.

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.