Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd Makes New Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. KCM Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,272,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 795 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $333,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 2,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $11,685,000. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Linde by 80.6% in the 4th quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $488,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $437.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $207.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $458.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $454.06. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.