Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC

Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC lowered its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 311 shares during the quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,743,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 1,160.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $464.57 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $218.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. Linde plc has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $451.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $447.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.75 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,720,279.42. This represents a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.70% 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.