Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Acquired by Snowden Capital Advisors LLC

Snowden Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,448 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,700,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,128,233,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Linde by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $468,360,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Linde by 56,467.9% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,041 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.8%

LIN stock opened at $457.77 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $451.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $447.77. The company has a market capitalization of $215.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. 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 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently 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.