Summit Securities Group LLC Buys Shares of 575 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 575 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup cut their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of LIN stock traded up $0.95 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $470.69. The company had a trading volume of 853,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,311,627. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year 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. The firm has a market cap of $222.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average of $457.72 and a 200 day moving average of $454.23.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.