First Manhattan CO. LLC. Buys 947 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 607,856 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 947 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for approximately 0.8% of First Manhattan CO. LLC.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. First Manhattan CO. LLC. owned approximately 0.13% of Linde worth $258,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,321,952 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $972,132,000 after purchasing an additional 6,734 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Eagle Global Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 17,160 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,185,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Concentric Capital Strategies LP raised its position in shares of Linde by 137.8% during the fourth quarter. Concentric Capital Strategies LP now owns 19,730 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $8,260,000 after purchasing an additional 11,434 shares during the period. Finally, Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $281,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.1%

LIN stock traded down $0.67 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $452.56. The stock had a trading volume of 1,058,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,935,356. The firm has a market cap of $213.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $452.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $448.17. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $8.11 billion for 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.