PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Has $177.44 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 21.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 423,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 74,828 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $177,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth $252,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $807,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231 over the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LIN. Citigroup decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $468.77 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $444.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $455.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. 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 52-week low of $410.69 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

About Linde

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.