Empirical Asset Management LLC Acquires 2,368 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Empirical Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 15.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,581 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,368 shares during the quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $7,361,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,217,197,000 after buying an additional 154,792 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,513,551,000 after acquiring an additional 15,187 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 372.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,567,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,682 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Linde by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,365,647,000 after buying an additional 218,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 1.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,438,154,000 after acquiring an additional 50,882 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on LIN. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $495.75.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded up $4.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $436.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 998,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,246,226. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $437.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $452.91. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $396.07 and a 12 month 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 firm has a market capitalization of $208.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.