Wallington Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Wallington Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 71,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 785 shares during the period. Linde accounts for 4.3% of Wallington Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $29,973,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 6.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,021 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 16.8% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Linde by 4.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,215,000 after buying an additional 2,312 shares during the period. Finally, Waverton Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in Linde by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 196,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,457,000 after buying an additional 1,811 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.75.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $436.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $437.32 and a 200-day moving average of $452.77. The company has a market cap of $207.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.63 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were 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 directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $102,832.22. The trade was a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.