Raiffeisen Bank International AG Purchases New Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 183,984 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,710,000. Linde makes up 1.2% of Raiffeisen Bank International AG’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,857,741,000 after purchasing an additional 554,480 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,128,233,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $445.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $451.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $448.04. The company has a market capitalization of $209.93 billion, a PE ratio of 32.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.11.

About Linde

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.