Staley Capital Advisers Inc. Invests $611,000 in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Staley Capital Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $611,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cornerstone Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 15,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,573,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 36,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $15,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares in the last quarter. S&CO Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. S&CO Inc. now owns 26,324 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,021,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in Linde by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 18,791 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,867,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 10,613 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,444,000 after acquiring an additional 652 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased 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 owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Citigroup decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $462.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $218.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company’s 50 day moving average is $445.68 and its 200-day moving average is $455.24. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.09%.

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.