First Trust Advisors LP Has $249.43 Million Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 23.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 595,775 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 114,271 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.13% of Linde worth $249,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $252,000. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Linde by 6.7% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,021 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at about $1,023,000. Wealthquest Corp bought a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth about $459,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Linde by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 2,831 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,350,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $1.32 during trading on Thursday, reaching $449.53. The stock had a trading volume of 2,055,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,414,742. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. 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 firm's fifty day moving average is $454.86 and its 200 day moving average is $450.75. The stock has a market cap of $212.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Linde's payout ratio is 44.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. 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 research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $498.00.

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.