KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys New Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 166,274 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $69,614,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. increased its stake in Linde by 85.2% in the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake 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 during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $625,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup cut their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $501.82.

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Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $3.98 on Wednesday, hitting $461.43. The company had a trading volume of 1,597,735 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,727,317. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $454.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $454.24.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. Linde's payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

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.