Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Bought by Night Owl Capital Management LLC

Night Owl Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,721 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,685 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for 2.6% of Night Owl Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Night Owl Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $19,979,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wrapmanager Inc. increased its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $450.67 on Wednesday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $451.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $448.05. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $212.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

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.