Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. Makes New Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 527 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wrapmanager Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA grew its stake in Linde by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Austin Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $459.09 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $453.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $454.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, 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.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company 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 $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. TD Cowen raised 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. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last quarter. 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.