Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Acquired by Lansdowne Partners UK LLP

Lansdowne Partners UK LLP increased its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 419,786 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 64,938 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up 12.8% of Lansdowne Partners UK LLP's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Lansdowne Partners UK LLP owned 0.09% of Linde worth $175,752,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,598,551,000 after buying an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Linde by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,818,608 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,598,737,000 after purchasing an additional 265,455 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,300,092,000 after purchasing an additional 89,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings 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 valued at $898,188,000 after purchasing an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $498.00.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded up $4.13 on Thursday, reaching $452.12. The stock had a trading volume of 1,726,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,940,323. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The business's 50-day moving average price is $455.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $451.54. The company has a market cap of $213.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last ninety days. 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.