Xponance Inc. Increases Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Xponance Inc. increased its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 67,675 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,797 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $27,795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tranquility Partners LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $206,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 58,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,998,000 after buying an additional 6,676 shares during the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 189 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 1,457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $597,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 1,168 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $480,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

Linde stock traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $446.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,060,048 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,252,017. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The firm has a market cap of $214.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average of $452.70 and a 200 day moving average of $417.56.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LIN. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

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.