Tredje AP fonden Increases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Tredje AP fonden lifted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 115,382 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,067 shares during the period. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in Linde were worth $48,307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 1,160.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on LIN. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Linde Stock Down 0.6 %

LIN stock opened at $451.17 on Thursday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month 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 company has a market capitalization of $213.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.15, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $447.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $455.13.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 1.33%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.09%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Company 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.