Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Has $85.02 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 203,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,879 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up 1.3% of Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $85,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 1,160.0% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its stake in Linde by 144.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $451.17 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $447.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $455.13. The company has a market capitalization of $213.36 billion, a PE ratio of 33.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $410.69 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.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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