Wintrust Investments LLC Acquires 92 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Wintrust Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 22.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $252,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.4% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 249 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,736 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $828,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,280,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $451.17 on Thursday. Linde plc has a one year low of $410.69 and a one 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 cap of $213.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $447.04 and its 200-day moving average is $455.13.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on LIN shares. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

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.