First National Advisers LLC Increases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

First National Advisers LLC increased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,578 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 355 shares during the period. First National Advisers LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its position in shares of Linde by 144.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 38.6% in the 4th quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 97 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Up 0.5 %

LIN stock opened at $455.50 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $215.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $448.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $454.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.09%.

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.