Fortitude Family Office LLC Increases Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 23.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $59,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.7% during the third quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $652,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the third quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the third quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $873,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.2% during the second quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $414.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $197.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $439.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $453.11.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 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.