Plancorp LLC Has $502,000 Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Plancorp LLC grew its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,199 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Plancorp LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $502,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Wrapmanager Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA lifted its stake in Linde by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Austin Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of LIN opened at $458.33 on Friday. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.68, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $452.96 and a 200-day moving average of $454.35.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors 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%. This is an increase 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 is presently 44.09%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

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.