Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Raises Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina's holdings in Linde were worth $88,505,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its holdings in Linde by 144.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on LIN. Citigroup lowered their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised 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 issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $498.00.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock traded up $5.95 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $451.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,205,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,934,954. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $456.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $451.57.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (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%. On average, analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.