Monarch Capital Management Inc. Has $901,000 Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Monarch Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,153 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 140 shares during the period. Monarch Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $901,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its holdings in Linde by 144.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 1,733.3% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $495.75.

Linde Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $436.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.61 billion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $436.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $452.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Linde 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.