1,051 Shares in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Acquired by HTLF Bank

HTLF Bank bought a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $432,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 48.7% during the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,834 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,164,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 67,675 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,795,000 after purchasing an additional 2,797 shares during the period. Tranquility Partners LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth approximately $206,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 58,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,998,000 after purchasing an additional 6,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 189 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $446.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $453.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $418.29. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The firm has a market cap of $214.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.42, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.16 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LIN. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen increased their price target 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 upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $456.79.

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.