GAMMA Investing LLC Buys Shares of 2,820 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,142,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its position in Linde by 122.6% in the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its holdings in Linde by 42.2% during the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.4 %

LIN traded down $1.91 on Tuesday, hitting $445.06. The company had a trading volume of 1,464,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,229,750. 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 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $454.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $419.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.16 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $456.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’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 transaction of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.