Blair William & Co. IL Has $101.85 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Blair William & Co. IL decreased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 243,274 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 15,036 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.05% of Linde worth $101,852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC bought a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at about $252,000. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its stake in shares of Linde by 12.7% during the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 2,457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,172,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Associated Banc Corp bought a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $507,000. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 2,191.7% in the third 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 during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % 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 90 days. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Linde Trading Up 0.9 %

LIN stock opened at $461.43 on Thursday. Linde plc has a one year low of $410.69 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $218.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $454.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $454.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its 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 net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current 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 paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. Linde’s 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.