Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 51.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 181,874 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 61,833 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $76,145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Genesis Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $207,000. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde by 130.8% during the fourth quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $423,000 after buying an additional 573 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 1,457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $610,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 18,890.6% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 80,520 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,711,000 after acquiring an additional 80,096 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $442.46 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $436.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $453.14. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $210.68 billion, a PE ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on LIN. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their target price on 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 research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.75.

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.