Aviso Financial Inc. Has $48.41 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Aviso Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 115,627 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,548 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for 2.4% of Aviso Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Aviso Financial Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $48,410,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $291,000. LBP AM SA increased its stake in shares of Linde by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 343,292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $143,726,000 after buying an additional 23,526 shares in the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $16,057,000. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 203,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $85,018,000 after buying an additional 13,879 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impact Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $2,090,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on LIN. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $453.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.30, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $447.82 and a 200-day moving average of $455.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Linde’s payout ratio 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.