BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Has $75.54 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 24.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 180,430 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 35,472 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Linde were worth $75,541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Linde by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,428 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $598,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 22.7% in the 4th quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,248 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $931,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,575 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $659,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 27,575 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $11,545,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addenda Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 21,959 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $9,194,000 after acquiring an additional 4,714 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on LIN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $503.11.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $458.90. 1,627,024 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,948,584. 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $451.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $447.50. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.02 billion, a PE ratio of 33.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 43.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.