Legal & General Group Plc Has $1.06 Billion Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 23.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,538,159 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 787,518 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.53% of Linde worth $1,062,569,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its holdings in Linde by 144.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $437.96 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $410.25 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $458.22 and a 200-day moving average of $453.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.09%.

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.