Madison Investment Advisors LLC Takes Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 38,352 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $16,057,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LIN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 372.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,567,958,000 after acquiring an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 56,467.9% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $459,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,041 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Linde by 2,293.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $327,593,000 after buying an additional 749,763 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $308,251,000. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in Linde by 467.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 827,979 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $374,780,000 after buying an additional 682,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank restated a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $501.82.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231 over the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $451.17 on Thursday. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $447.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $455.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.36 billion, a PE ratio of 33.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. This is a boost from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde's payout ratio is 44.09%.

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.

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