Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Acquires 60,302 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 26.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 287,155 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 60,302 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned 0.06% of Linde worth $120,223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 144.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN traded up $1.87 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $452.45. 627,921 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,944,145. The stock has a market cap of $213.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $453.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $450.06. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. Insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. 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 report 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $498.00.

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.