OLD National Bancorp IN Acquires 65 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

OLD National Bancorp IN grew its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,536 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,452,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its position in Linde by 122.6% during 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. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its position in Linde by 42.2% during the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on LIN. Citigroup cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $445.06 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $350.60 and a 12-month high of $477.71. The business’s fifty day moving average is $455.01 and its 200 day moving average is $419.93. 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 cap of $214.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.16 EPS. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

Linde Company 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.