Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Takes $369,000 Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $252,000. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 4,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,989,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 7,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,811,000 after purchasing an additional 1,027 shares during the period. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $203,000. Finally, Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 62.5% in the 3rd quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 7,241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,453,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 1.5 %

LIN opened at $467.05 on Friday. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $222.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average of $440.68 and a 200-day moving average of $454.96.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend 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 is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 16,285 shares of company stock valued at $7,423,986. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently 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.