Corton Capital Inc. Buys New Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 671 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Linde by 34.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $468,360,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 56,467.9% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $459,692,000 after buying an additional 1,096,041 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Linde by 2,293.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $327,593,000 after purchasing an additional 749,763 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at $610,662. This represents a 65.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $503.11.

Linde Stock Up 0.2%

LIN stock traded up $1.05 during trading on Monday, reaching $453.71. The stock had a trading volume of 657,888 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,930,326. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $408.65 and a 1-year high of $487.49. 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 company has a market capitalization of $213.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.33, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $452.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $448.17.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

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

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.