130 Shares in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Bought by Lee Danner & Bass Inc.

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its holdings in Linde by 144.8% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 38.6% in the 4th quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 97 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $458.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $216.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.68, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $452.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.35.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders 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. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on LIN. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 sale, the director now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.