Motive Wealth Advisors Invests $247,000 in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Motive Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 533 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth $25,000. First Pacific Financial acquired a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 49.0% during the first quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Linde by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 78 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on LIN. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $464.25.

Linde Price Performance

LIN traded up $5.81 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $440.70. 1,843,874 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,032,801. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Linde plc has a one year low of $361.02 and a one year high of $477.71. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $434.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $435.44.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Linde Company Profile

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.