Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC Takes $205,000 Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 122.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth $29,000. Halpern Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 309.5% during the third quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 86 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded down $3.89 during trading on Monday, reaching $460.81. 366,243 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,318,445. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $445.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $413.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.92 billion, a PE ratio of 36.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.16 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on LIN. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $448.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.