BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 24.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 180,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,472 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $75,541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nationale Nederlanden Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. raised its position in Linde by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Nationale Nederlanden Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. now owns 55,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,074,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,360,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,406,899,000 after purchasing an additional 72,312 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 2,411.8% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 413,292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $173,033,000 after buying an additional 396,838 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $1,619,000. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 47.3% during the fourth quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 11,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,822,000 after buying an additional 3,698 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,246 shares of company stock worth $5,188,827 over the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $459.85 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.46 billion, a PE ratio of 33.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $451.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $447.64.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.75 earnings per share. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. 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.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.11.

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.