Headlands Technologies LLC Takes $327,000 Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 795 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $575,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $951,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory increased its stake in Linde by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,057,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Mizuho raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. 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, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’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 value of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Down 0.1 %

Linde stock opened at $443.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $213.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $350.60 and a 52 week high of $477.71. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $456.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $421.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

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.