Criteria Caixa S.A.U. Takes $42.99 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Criteria Caixa S.A.U. purchased a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 102,690 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $42,993,000. Linde comprises approximately 6.1% of Criteria Caixa S.A.U.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Linde by 85.2% during the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Channel Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Linde by 2.2% during 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. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $88,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $625,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $498.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $2.65 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $453.23. 2,668,138 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,951,233. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $453.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $450.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $408.65 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

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.