1,425 Shares in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Acquired by Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC

Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC acquired a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 1,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $597,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its holdings in Linde by 144.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. boosted its position in Linde by 38.6% during the fourth quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 97 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Trading Up 0.5 %

Linde stock opened at $453.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $214.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.30, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $447.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $455.12.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde 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 transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 over the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.