Lingohr Asset Management GmbH Buys New Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Lingohr Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $910,000. Linde comprises 1.9% of Lingohr Asset Management GmbH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,524,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in Linde by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 605,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $253,389,000 after acquiring an additional 69,929 shares during the last quarter. Zeno Equity Partners LLP lifted its position in Linde by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Zeno Equity Partners LLP now owns 74,378 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,140,000 after acquiring an additional 2,734 shares during the last quarter. Investment House LLC lifted its position in Linde by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Investment House LLC now owns 13,106 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,487,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in Linde by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 13,779 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,755,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $459.75 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $451.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $217.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. 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 plc has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.