Aspiriant LLC Sells 161 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Aspiriant LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 16.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 837 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 161 shares during the quarter. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $389,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 44.3% during the first quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 3,341 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 2.7% during the first quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,689,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Linde by 7.1% during the first quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Bank purchased a new stake in Linde during the first quarter valued at $222,000. Finally, DLK Investment Management LLC increased its position in Linde by 0.6% during the first quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,586 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,522,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on LIN shares. UBS Group cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Mizuho upped their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $468.83.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $440.22 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $435.99 and a 200 day moving average of $433.60. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $358.37 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The firm has a market cap of $211.60 billion, a PE ratio of 34.15, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. 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.