GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Takes Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 90,243 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $37,782,000. Linde makes up about 0.8% of GF Fund Management CO. LTD.'s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wrapmanager Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Concord Asset Management LLC VA raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN traded up $9.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $467.95. 2,688,803 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,954,112. 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 cap of $220.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $451.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $447.50.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.75 EPS. The firm's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $503.11.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business'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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.