Xcel Wealth Management LLC Makes New $221,000 Investment in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN)

Xcel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 474 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,128,233,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 58,312.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,415,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,590,596,000 after buying an additional 3,410,087 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Linde by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $468,360,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $576.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $515.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total value of $3,314,065.62. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $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. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Up 0.1%

LIN opened at $477.17 on Thursday. Linde PLC has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $460.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $450.38. The stock has a market cap of $224.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.65, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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. Linde had a net margin of 20.02% and a return on equity of 18.95%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde PLC will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.57%.

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.