Magnetar Financial LLC Purchases New Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 10,805 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $4,524,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wrapmanager Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $709,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Fourpath Capital Management LLC increased its position in Linde by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Austin Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Linde by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $1.64 on Tuesday, reaching $457.45. 2,002,522 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,724,102. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $410.69 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $453.71 and a 200-day moving average of $454.18.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, 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 valued at $5,603,843 in the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.