HighTower Advisors LLC Has $137.09 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 327,436 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,725 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $137,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wrapmanager Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,999,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,732,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company boosted its stake in Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 2,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $841,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $454.07 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $214.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $446.39 and its 200 day moving average is $455.16. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231 over the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

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.