Merit Financial Group LLC Grows Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 25.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,959 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 2,035 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $4,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.7% in the third quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $652,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% in the third quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,290,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,831 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $873,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 851 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $406,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Linde Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $3.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $436.00. 2,395,144 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,152,630. The company has a market cap of $207.61 billion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Linde plc has a one year low of $396.07 and a one year high of $487.49. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $436.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $452.97.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde's 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.