M&T Bank Corp Buys 428 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 79,900 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $33,451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.4% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares in the last quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $243,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 21.2% during the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,779 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $848,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.0% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Family Office LLC now owns 1,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $540,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 over the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report 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 note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $468.25 on Thursday. 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. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $443.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $455.16. The company has a market capitalization of $221.44 billion, a PE ratio of 34.40, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share 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, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.