Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Has $186.41 Million Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. decreased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 445,235 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,900 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.09% of Linde worth $186,407,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Linde by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.4% during the 4th 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 acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Linde by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,818,608 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,598,737,000 after purchasing an additional 265,455 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $498.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde 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 of the company's stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Trading Up 2.4 %

Linde stock opened at $454.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $214.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $455.03 and a 200-day moving average of $450.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Linde plc has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. On average, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. This is an increase from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde's payout ratio is presently 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.

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