Rakuten Securities Inc. Boosts Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $26,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Linde by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,217,197,000 after purchasing an additional 154,792 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Linde by 372.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,567,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,682 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,300,092,000 after purchasing an additional 89,408 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in Linde by 2.4% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,130,986,000 after purchasing an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Linde by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $898,188,000 after purchasing an additional 46,843 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $453.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $214.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.30, a PEG 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $447.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $455.12.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s 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 completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.