Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by First National Advisers LLC

First National Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,578 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 355 shares during the quarter. First National Advisers LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,010,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 1,160.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its stake in Linde by 144.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $455.50 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $448.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $454.91. The firm has a market cap of $215.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.47, a PEG 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 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 results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.09%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.