Lindbrook Capital LLC Increases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 17.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,577 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 19,984,243 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,103,185,000 after purchasing an additional 372,780 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,919,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,182,870,000 after acquiring an additional 354,506 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Linde by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,587,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,315,068,000 after acquiring an additional 488,655 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $2,409,138,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,508,547 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,480,277,000 after acquiring an additional 479,188 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. TD Cowen raised their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Linde Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $446.30. The stock had a trading volume of 1,831,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,488,572. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $453.89 and its 200-day moving average is $418.61. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. 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. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

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

About Linde

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.