Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Acquired by APG Asset Management N.V.

APG Asset Management N.V. grew its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 171,427 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 17,090 shares during the quarter. APG Asset Management N.V.'s holdings in Linde were worth $69,311,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LIN. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 0.3% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,901,853,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Linde by 7.5% during the fourth 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,300,092,000 after purchasing an additional 89,408 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Linde by 2.2% in 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 buying an additional 46,843 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $498.00.

Linde Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $9.95 during trading on Friday, hitting $441.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,342,916 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,938,062. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $456.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $452.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $208.95 billion, a PE ratio of 32.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 is a boost from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde's payout ratio is 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the director now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

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.