Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. Invests $2.75 Million in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,752,000. Linde accounts for 1.5% of Deane Retirement Strategies Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. TradeLink Capital LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 1st quarter valued at $2,523,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 36.4% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 1,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $566,000 after buying an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 25.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $957,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 15.3% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,380 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the period. Finally, Ergoteles LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 1st quarter worth about $6,682,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ LIN traded down $2.38 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $463.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 492,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,391,281. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $348.38 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $436.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $409.21.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 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 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th will be given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Seaport Res Ptn cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $448.93.

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.