Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Raises Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,291 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 735 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,634,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Channel Wealth LLC increased its position in Linde by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,092,000 after buying an additional 1,723 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Linde by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Linde by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,021 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 16.8% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in Linde by 4.4% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup reduced 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $439.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $209.15 billion, a PE ratio of 33.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $396.07 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $435.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $453.05.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.