Phoenix Financial Ltd. Has $6.57 Million Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Phoenix Financial Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,680 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 820 shares during the quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd.’s holdings in Linde were worth $6,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $2,901,853,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,818,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,598,737,000 after acquiring an additional 265,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Linde by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,300,092,000 after purchasing an additional 89,408 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Up 7.9 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $445.97 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $457.00 and a 200-day moving average of $452.58. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $210.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.77, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on LIN shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.