Ramirez Asset Management Inc. Has $3.63 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ramirez Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,669 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 646 shares during the quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its position in Linde by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 48,459 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,231,000 after buying an additional 3,390 shares during the last quarter. Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $210,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 17,056 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,141,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $2,901,853,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $464.73 on Friday. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $455.63 and a 200-day moving average of $454.31. 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 company has a market capitalization of $219.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on LIN. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

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.