Tradewinds LLC. Buys Shares of 480 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Tradewinds LLC. purchased a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Cannell & Spears LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC now owns 1,469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $615,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 8,176 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,423,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 41,630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,429,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Linde by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 973,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $407,427,000 after purchasing an additional 38,412 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup decreased 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. Three equities research 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $467.09 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $457.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $454.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.32, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. Linde’s payout ratio is 44.09%.

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.