617 Shares in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Bought by May Hill Capital LLC

May Hill Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 617 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wrapmanager Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $709,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA boosted its stake in Linde by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC grew its position in Linde by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $467.09 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $220.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.32, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $457.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $454.12. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on LIN shares. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde 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.