Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 384,520 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,055 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.08% of Linde worth $160,987,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $252,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its position in shares of Linde by 2.4% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares in the last quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $243,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 21.2% in the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,779 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $848,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Family Office LLC now owns 1,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock opened at $468.25 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $221.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $443.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $455.16. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. Linde’s payout ratio is 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, 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 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 over the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. 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 research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

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.