Czech National Bank Boosts Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 103,241 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,314 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank's holdings in Linde were worth $43,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.7% in the 3rd 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. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position 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 worth $898,188,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 16.8% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,604 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,580,000 after buying an additional 1,383 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 2,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waverton Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in Linde by 0.9% during the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 196,036 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $93,457,000 after acquiring an additional 1,811 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank restated a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen raised Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $495.75.

Linde Trading Up 1.8 %

LIN stock traded up $7.28 during trading on Monday, hitting $421.43. The company had a trading volume of 2,824,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,523,885. The stock has a market cap of $200.67 billion, a PE ratio of 32.00, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a one year low of $396.07 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a 50-day moving average of $439.22 and a 200-day moving average of $453.16.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Linde

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

Linde Company 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.