Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Wellington Shields & Co. LLC

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,022 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its holdings in Linde by 2.4% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 3.1% in the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,736 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $828,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,280,000. Finally, Curi RMB Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 25.9% in the third quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 2,306 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,100,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $455.50 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $448.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $455.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is 44.09%.

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.