Machina Capital S.A.S. Buys Shares of 974 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Machina Capital S.A.S. bought a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $400,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the third quarter worth $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 122.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Provence Wealth Management Group purchased a new position in Linde during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 310.0% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Linde by 347.6% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $464.69.

Linde Stock Up 0.7 %

LIN stock traded up $3.02 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $426.62. 1,533,480 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,225,953. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $350.60 and a 52 week high of $477.71. The company has a market cap of $205.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $455.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $423.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

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.