Brown Advisory Inc. Increases Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 14.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,297 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 14,051 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $47,434,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $590,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased 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 worth $898,188,000 after purchasing an additional 46,843 shares during the period. Capital Market Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Market Strategies LLC now owns 598 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 38.6% in the fourth quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 97 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insight Wealth Strategies LLC grew its position in Linde by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 4,065 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,702,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $503.11.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ LIN traded down $0.67 during trading on Friday, hitting $452.56. 1,058,910 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,932,553. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $452.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $448.55. 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 $213.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.25, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.24 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The business's quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

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.