Natural Investments LLC Invests $3.87 Million in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Natural Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 9,234 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,865,000. Linde comprises about 1.1% of Natural Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its position in Linde by 144.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its position in Linde by 38.6% in the fourth quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 97 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. The trade was a 75.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Citigroup dropped their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $462.06 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $445.68 and a 200-day moving average of $455.24. The stock has a market cap of $218.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $410.69 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.