Royal Fund Management LLC Buys Shares of 830 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Royal Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $348,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Channel Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Linde by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in Linde by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,021 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 16.8% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,580,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in shares of Linde by 4.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $442.46 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $436.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $453.14. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $210.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.