Coldstream Capital Management Inc. Takes $1.78 Million Position in Linde plc (NYSE:LIN)

Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Linde plc (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 5,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,781,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 9.6% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,135,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,487,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,061,754 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Linde by 16.1% during the 2nd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,078,119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,460,112,000 after purchasing an additional 703,724 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Linde by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,653,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,938,416,000 after purchasing an additional 689,308 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Linde by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,587,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,315,068,000 after purchasing an additional 488,655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,273,245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,152,024,000 after purchasing an additional 479,117 shares in the last quarter. 78.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $370.00 to $378.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. HSBC increased their price target on shares of Linde from $375.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Friday, February 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Linde from $355.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Linde from $355.00 to $385.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $370.67.

Linde Trading Down 2.3 %

NYSE:LIN opened at $330.49 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $334.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $315.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $262.47 and a 12-month high of $362.74.

Linde (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported $3.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $7.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.49 billion. Linde had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 14.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 13.37 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.275 per share. This represents a $5.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.17. Linde’s payout ratio is 61.82%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 4,060 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.17, for a total value of $1,462,290.20. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,036,953.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Profile

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Linde Plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It designs and builds equipment that produces industrial gases and offers customers a wide range of gas production and processing services such as olefin plants, natural gas plants, air separation plants, hydrogen and synthesis gas plants and other types of plants.