Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 58,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 6,676 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $23,998,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 122.6% in the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, RVW Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded up $1.01 on Wednesday, hitting $446.79. The company had a trading volume of 1,199,440 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,273,072. The company has a market cap of $215.17 billion, a PE ratio of 35.38, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $350.60 and a 52 week high of $477.71. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $452.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $417.35.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.16 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.