Kowal Investment Group LLC Purchases Shares of 439 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Kowal Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 439 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,075,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 18,676 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,672,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $874,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,878,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Koss Olinger Consulting LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter valued at about $5,319,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $428.94 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $435.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $434.09. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $358.37 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.28, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. UBS Group cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Citigroup cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $468.83.

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.