Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Groupama Asset Managment

Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 23.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,162 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Linde were worth $9,287,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on LIN. 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 reduced their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Linde Stock Up 0.3 %

LIN opened at $467.09 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a one year low of $410.69 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $220.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.32, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day moving average is $457.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $454.12. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 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%. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.