Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 32,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the period. Linde makes up about 0.9% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $13,429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at about $252,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at about $5,536,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 4.1% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 70,422 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,581,000 after purchasing an additional 2,772 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 9,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,757,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 202.8% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,476,000 after acquiring an additional 7,691 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. 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. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of LIN opened at $458.33 on Friday. 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 50 day simple moving average of $452.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $454.49. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $216.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.