Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Position Increased by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 26.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 287,155 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 60,302 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Linde worth $120,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN traded down $0.40 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $448.00. 1,641,573 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,949,429. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.86 billion, a PE ratio of 32.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The business's 50 day moving average price is $454.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $450.24. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year 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.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on LIN shares. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $498.00.

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.