Sky Investment Group LLC Purchases 559 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sky Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 27,575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 559 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises about 2.1% of Sky Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $11,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 2,710 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Linde by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $659,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,837 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,281,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,258 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,969,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. Finally, Trueblood Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,573,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of Linde 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 in the company, valued at $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $436.00 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $436.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $453.12. The firm has a market cap of $207.61 billion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.63 EPS. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

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.