ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 28 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

by · The Cerbat Gem

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN – Free Report) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,059 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Addenda Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 21,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,194,000 after buying an additional 4,714 shares during the last quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 27,575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,545,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 2,710 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in Linde by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $659,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DLK Investment Management LLC increased its position in Linde by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,837 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,281,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $436.00 on Tuesday. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $396.07 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $436.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $453.12. The stock has a market cap of $207.61 billion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho increased their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on LIN

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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