Guardian Partners Inc. Buys New Shares in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Guardian Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,591 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,928,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at about $252,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $5,536,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Linde by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 70,422 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,581,000 after purchasing an additional 2,772 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its position in Linde by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 9,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,757,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $859,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock opened at $458.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $452.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $454.35. The stock has a market cap of $216.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. 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 positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup lowered their target price 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were 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 directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. 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 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.