2,454 Shares in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Acquired by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,454 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,008,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Winder Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at $1,892,774,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $168,636,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 33,201.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $169,189,000 after buying an additional 410,705 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Linde by 17.8% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,592,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $973,865,000 after buying an additional 391,153 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 53.1% in the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,033,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $384,681,000 after buying an additional 358,492 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. 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 increased their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho raised their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $460.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.9 %

LIN traded up $3.98 on Friday, hitting $423.60. 2,657,419 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,803,659. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.91. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $455.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $422.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $204.00 billion, a PE ratio of 32.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

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.