Impact Capital Partners LLC Takes Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Impact Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,090,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. boosted its stake in Linde by 85.2% in the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Channel Wealth LLC boosted its position in Linde by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in Linde by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,898,000 after buying an additional 5,021 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Linde by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $898,188,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares during the period. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $625,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business’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 transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of 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. Insiders have sold 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $451.17 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $213.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $447.04 and a 200-day moving average of $455.13.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. Analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is 44.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of 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 research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 an average 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.