Investment Management Corp of Ontario Has $12.48 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in Linde were worth $12,478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Linde by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Linde by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,214,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,857,741,000 after buying an additional 554,480 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $2,901,853,000. Finally, Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $2,128,233,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $452.56 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $452.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $448.35. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.03 billion, a PE ratio of 33.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The firm’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. Analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde 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 transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.11.

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.