Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Acquires 22,214 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 126.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 39,839 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 22,214 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Linde were worth $16,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wrapmanager Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in Linde by 34.9% during 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 raised its stake in Linde by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 0.6% in the 4th 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 during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $2.81 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $446.72. 1,040,447 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,944,057. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $454.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $450.65. The stock has a market cap of $211.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.83, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen raised Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Three 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $498.00.

Linde 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.