California Public Employees Retirement System Has $407.43 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 973,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,412 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.20% of Linde worth $407,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 56,467.9% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $459,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,041 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Linde by 2,293.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $327,593,000 after purchasing an additional 749,763 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $308,251,000. Finally, Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $306,585,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $459.11 on Friday. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $217.12 billion, a PE ratio of 33.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $456.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.22.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, 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 a total of 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

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.