CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. Acquires Shares of 800 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. acquired a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,000. Linde comprises approximately 0.7% of CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $575,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $951,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.9% during the third quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Seven Mile Advisory increased its stake in shares of Linde by 4.2% during the third quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Linde Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ LIN traded down $2.17 on Monday, reaching $445.24. 710,655 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,282,753. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $450.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $416.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $350.60 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.16 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.