Advisors Asset Management Inc. Purchases 2,507 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,507 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $10,095,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,217,197,000 after buying an additional 154,792 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 372.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,567,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,300,092,000 after purchasing an additional 89,408 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,680,279 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $703,482,000 after purchasing an additional 49,374 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde 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 directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $460.71 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $450.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $454.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $217.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. 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 dividend yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

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.