Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Capital International Sarl

Capital International Sarl increased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 14.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 72,911 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,360 shares during the quarter. Capital International Sarl's holdings in Linde were worth $30,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 30,750 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $2,901,853,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 265,455 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,812,461 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,596,163,000 after buying an additional 12,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 3.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 89,408 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Down 1.8 %

Linde stock traded down $8.14 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $446.47. 670,019 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,940,147. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $211.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $455.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $450.77.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its 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, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.