Concentric Capital Strategies LP Grows Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Concentric Capital Strategies LP raised its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 137.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,730 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,434 shares during the quarter. Concentric Capital Strategies LP's holdings in Linde were worth $8,260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wrapmanager Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Concord Asset Management LLC VA lifted its position in Linde by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,732,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $447.05 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company's 50-day moving average is $452.85 and its 200 day moving average is $448.96. 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 company has a market capitalization of $210.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $8.11 billion for 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.75 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Linde's payout ratio is 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $503.11.

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.

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