Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Purchases 50 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,577 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 1,160.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its stake in shares of Linde by 144.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was 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 owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $457.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $452.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $454.63. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.48 billion, a PE ratio of 33.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note 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.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

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.