Main Street Research LLC Acquires 986 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Main Street Research LLC boosted its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 986 shares during the period. Linde makes up about 2.0% of Main Street Research LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $24,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Norges Bank bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,409,138,000. Winder Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,892,774,000. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 888.7% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,741,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,329,889,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363,112 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Linde by 55.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,457,759 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,780,213,000 after buying an additional 1,956,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Linde by 450.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,141,656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $698,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,752,456 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.93 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $443.82. The company had a trading volume of 645,608 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,274,364. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $213.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.30, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $451.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $416.84. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.16 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on LIN. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut 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. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $456.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Linde

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.