Virtu Financial LLC Has $1.94 Million Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Virtu Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 116.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,644 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,498 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,944,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wrapmanager Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA raised its holdings in Linde by 0.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,732,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Austin Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup decreased their target price 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $458.33 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $452.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.35. The company has a market capitalization of $216.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. 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 (DPR) is currently 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.