SlateStone Wealth LLC Raises Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

SlateStone Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,382 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 85.2% during the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Channel Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 6.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,021 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Linde by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the period. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $625,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $455.50 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $448.66 and a 200 day moving average of $454.91. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.47, 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.