Jennison Associates LLC Increases Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 12.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 641,870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 73,295 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.13% of Linde worth $263,622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $1,600,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $1,480,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,045,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd boosted its position in Linde by 156.3% in the fourth quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 10,121 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,146,000 after buying an additional 6,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,679,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Linde Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $446.16. The company had a trading volume of 450,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,227,588. The company has a market capitalization of $214.86 billion, a PE ratio of 35.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $350.60 and a 1-year high of $477.71. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $453.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $418.89.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm earned $3.16 earnings per share. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.