Alerus Financial NA Buys 4,571 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Alerus Financial NA grew its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 355.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,857 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,571 shares during the period. Alerus Financial NA’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at $252,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $507,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 2,191.7% in the 3rd quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares during the period. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.0% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 17,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,556,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $464.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $219.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $455.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $454.31. 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 plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.