Advisors Capital Management LLC Raises Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 252.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,385 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 33,231 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $19,420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,662,000. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP lifted its position in Linde by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP now owns 419,786 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $175,752,000 after purchasing an additional 64,938 shares during the period. Optimize Financial Inc purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $219,000. Manhattan West Asset Management LLC grew its position in Linde by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Manhattan West Asset Management LLC now owns 7,225 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,025,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Finally, Petros Family Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $302,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $498.00.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded up $4.13 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $452.12. 1,726,051 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,943,223. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm's 50-day moving average is $455.63 and its 200-day moving average is $451.37. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $213.81 billion, a PE ratio of 33.22, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde's payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.