Financial Enhancement Group LLC Acquires New Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Financial Enhancement Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 26,609 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $11,214,000. Linde accounts for approximately 1.7% of Financial Enhancement Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Linde by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $898,188,000 after purchasing an additional 46,843 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Linde by 6.7% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $37,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,021 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 16.8% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,604 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of 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 shares of Linde by 0.9% in the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 196,036 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $93,457,000 after acquiring an additional 1,811 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday. Erste Group Bank reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup cut 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price 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. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $495.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Up 1.1 %

LIN traded up $4.51 during trading on Thursday, reaching $432.49. 1,509,695 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,372,349. The company's fifty day moving average price is $437.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $452.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.93 billion, a PE ratio of 32.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Linde 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.