APG Asset Management N.V. Boosts Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

APG Asset Management N.V. increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 171,427 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 17,090 shares during the quarter. APG Asset Management N.V.’s holdings in Linde were worth $69,311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Maren Capital LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Maren Capital LLC now owns 221,326 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $92,663,000 after buying an additional 25,950 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,818,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,598,737,000 after purchasing an additional 265,455 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 81,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,386 shares during the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,260,000. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 3,681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $425.86 on Tuesday. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $457.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $453.54.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was 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 $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % 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. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.