TIAA Trust National Association Has $13.91 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

TIAA Trust National Association boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,216 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,084 shares during the quarter. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Linde were worth $13,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 144.8% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $457.45 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $216.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.61, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $454.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $454.19. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.09%.

Linde Company 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.