GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Invests $37.78 Million in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 90,243 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $37,782,000. Linde comprises approximately 0.8% of GF Fund Management CO. LTD.'s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wrapmanager Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC increased 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 in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Concord Asset Management LLC VA lifted its position in Linde by 0.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total value of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,639 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,725 shares of company stock worth $5,385,750 over the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $503.11.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded up $1.03 on Thursday, hitting $463.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 515,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,952,414. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $218.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $451.55 and a 200-day moving average of $447.74. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.75 EPS. The business's revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde's payout ratio is currently 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.