Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Sit Investment Associates Inc.

Sit Investment Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 18.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 32,315 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,968 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $13,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,901,853,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 56,467.9% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,041 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Linde by 2,293.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $327,593,000 after buying an additional 749,763 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $308,251,000. Finally, Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $306,585,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 6.3 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $437.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $207.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $458.22 and a 200-day moving average of $454.06.

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 net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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. Citigroup dropped their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was 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 approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.