DRW Securities LLC Has $1.86 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

DRW Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 581.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,450 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 3,797 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $1,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $2,901,853,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Linde by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,818,608 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,598,737,000 after buying an additional 265,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 3.0% in 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 buying an additional 89,408 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased 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 acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup reduced 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $498.00.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded up $1.49 on Monday, hitting $443.32. 482,698 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,932,325. The company has a market capitalization of $209.65 billion, a PE ratio of 32.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The business's fifty day moving average is $456.29 and its 200 day moving average is $451.80. 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 current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 a boost from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now 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 transaction 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 company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at $610,662. The trade was 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 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Linde Company 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.