695 Shares in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Acquired by Atala Financial Inc

Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 695 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wrapmanager Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA boosted its stake in Linde by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Fourpath Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Austin Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.5 %

LIN opened at $453.26 on Friday. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.35 billion, a PE ratio of 33.30, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $447.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $455.12.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 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.