Advisors Asset Management Inc. Has $10.10 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,507 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $10,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 135.1% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 91,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,416,000 after acquiring an additional 52,511 shares in the last quarter. RD Lewis Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $1,249,000. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 277,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $115,972,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 20,004 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,375,000 after buying an additional 1,880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC now owns 32,837 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,748,000 after buying an additional 2,105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was 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 directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $460.71 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $450.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.57.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. 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 yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 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.