City Holding Co. Grows Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

City Holding Co. grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,227 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the quarter. City Holding Co.’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 68,286 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,589,000 after buying an additional 9,526 shares during the period. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $487,000. My Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 2,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $841,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $533,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $436.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $207.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $436.85 and a 200-day moving average of $452.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $396.07 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Linde 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.