Coldstream Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,873 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $7,064,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nebula Research & Development LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 178.2% in the fourth quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 6,871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,877,000 after buying an additional 4,401 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its position in Linde by 26.6% in the 4th quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 287,155 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $120,223,000 after acquiring an additional 60,302 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its stake in Linde by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 2,731 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,143,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 8,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,405,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burling Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,319,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $498.00.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $448.40 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $454.36 and a 200-day moving average of $450.51. The company has a market cap of $212.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.95, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. 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 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (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, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, 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 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last three months. 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.