Wedbush Securities Inc. Boosts Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $2,901,853,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 56,467.9% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,041 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 2,293.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $327,593,000 after purchasing an additional 749,763 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $308,251,000. Finally, Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $306,585,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Stock Performance

Linde stock opened at $437.96 on Friday. 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 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $207.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $458.22 and its 200-day moving average is $453.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.