Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases 31,194 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 193.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 47,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,194 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $19,794,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $452.56 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $452.15 and its 200 day moving average is $448.35. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $213.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

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.