Ascent Capital Management LLC Takes $217,000 Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ascent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $252,000. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 3.1% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,736 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $828,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Curi RMB Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 25.9% during the third quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 2,306 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,100,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $200,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Linde by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,060 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,320,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, 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 transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.5 %

Linde stock opened at $455.50 on Friday. 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 market cap of $215.41 billion, a PE ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $448.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $454.91. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

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 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%. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Linde Profile

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.