Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Sells 1,166 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 29.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,811 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,166 shares during the period. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory boosted its position in shares of Linde by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas boosted its position in shares of Linde by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 411 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $153,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $465,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group downgraded 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 research report on Wednesday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $448.93.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $466.23 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $224.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average is $436.71 and its 200 day moving average is $409.21. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $344.56 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. 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.