Motiv8 Investments LLC Has $1 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Motiv8 Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 35.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,388 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the period. Motiv8 Investments LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 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 valued at $1,567,958,000 after acquiring an additional 2,592,682 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Linde by 56,467.9% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,041 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Linde by 2,293.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $327,593,000 after purchasing an additional 749,763 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in Linde by 108.7% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $374,086,000 after purchasing an additional 408,659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Linde by 131.6% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 621,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $296,342,000 after buying an additional 353,136 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho upped their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 16,285 shares of company stock worth $7,423,986. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Down 1.3 %

LIN opened at $461.40 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $439.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $454.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $219.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a PEG 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.85%.

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.