Freemont Capital Pte Ltd Takes Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of 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. The fund acquired 5,083,319 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $2,128,233,000. Linde accounts for approximately 45.0% of Freemont Capital Pte Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd owned about 1.07% of Linde at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 231.0% during the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 1,645 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $689,000 after buying an additional 1,148 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its holdings in Linde by 24.0% during the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 1,097 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 140 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 528 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders increased its stake in Linde by 8.2% in the 4th 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. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm'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 directly owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $3.75 on Tuesday, hitting $450.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,666,348 shares, 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 fifty day moving average price of $451.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $448.04. The company has a market capitalization of $212.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.75 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus raised 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 given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $503.11.

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.