Larson Financial Group LLC Acquires 174 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 17.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $486,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $252,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,130,986,000 after purchasing an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 7.1% during the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at about $807,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on LIN shares. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $468.77 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $444.80 and its 200-day moving average is $455.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $221.69 billion, a PE ratio of 34.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.