Sterling Capital Management LLC Acquires 31,912 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 770.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,052 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 31,912 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $15,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $2,901,853,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,818,608 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,598,737,000 after acquiring an additional 265,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,300,092,000 after acquiring an additional 89,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Linde by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on LIN. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $498.00.

Linde Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $1.46 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $449.51. 826,901 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,935,913. The company's 50 day moving average is $455.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $451.56. The company has a market capitalization of $212.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. This is a boost from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

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.