Phoenix Financial Ltd. Grows Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Phoenix Financial Ltd. lifted its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,680 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 820 shares during the period. Phoenix Financial Ltd.’s holdings in Linde were worth $6,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Wrapmanager Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC raised its stake in Linde by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Concord Asset Management LLC VA grew its stake in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 7.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $445.97 on Thursday. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $457.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $452.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

About Linde

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.