Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Purchased by Lokken Investment Group LLC

Lokken Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Lokken Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,598,551,000 after acquiring an additional 30,750 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,300,092,000 after buying an additional 89,408 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Linde by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $898,188,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Linde by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,680,279 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $703,482,000 after buying an additional 49,374 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $465.64 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $220.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $456.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $454.13.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LIN. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.