Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Has $99.73 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lowered its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 238,206 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 9,742 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned about 0.05% of Linde worth $99,730,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its stake in Linde by 231.0% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 1,645 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $689,000 after acquiring an additional 1,148 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank grew its holdings in Linde by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 1,097 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its position in Linde by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 140 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Linde by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 528 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders lifted its position in shares of Linde by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 3,807 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,594,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company 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 assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $3.75 on Tuesday, reaching $450.67. 1,666,348 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,936,980. 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 firm has a market cap of $212.14 billion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's 50 day moving average is $451.87 and its 200-day moving average is $448.04. Linde plc has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company had revenue of $8.11 billion during 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%. Linde's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Linde's payout ratio is presently 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.