Cetera Investment Advisers Has $22.15 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 52,905 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,276 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Linde were worth $22,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Linde by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,834,631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957,604 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $468,360,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 56,467.9% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $459,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 2,293.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $327,593,000 after buying an additional 749,763 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded up $1.76 on Monday, hitting $454.42. 1,944,923 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,935,394. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $452.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $448.17. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Linde's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.75 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.11.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Linde Company 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.