Boston Research & Management Inc. Has $6.71 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Boston Research & Management Inc. cut its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 27 shares during the period. Linde comprises approximately 1.6% of Boston Research & Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Boston Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $6,705,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cannell & Spears LLC boosted its position in Linde by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC now owns 1,469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $615,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 8,176 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,423,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Linde by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 41,630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,429,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in Linde by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 973,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $407,427,000 after purchasing an additional 38,412 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Down 1.2 %

LIN opened at $459.11 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $456.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $454.14. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $217.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on LIN. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

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.