Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,144 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,722 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $20,156,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. grew its holdings in Linde by 85.2% during the 4th quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,092,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after buying an additional 5,021 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $625,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $457.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $216.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $452.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $454.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.