Fisher Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,652 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wrapmanager Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Concord Asset Management LLC VA boosted its position in Linde by 0.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Fourpath Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Linde by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company boosted its position in Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 2,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $841,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $466.16 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $220.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $443.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $455.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.