Markel Group Inc. Raises Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Markel Group Inc. lifted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 126,200 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,700 shares during the quarter. Markel Group Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $51,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $575,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $951,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Linde by 1.9% during the third quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory increased its holdings in Linde by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,057,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

Linde stock traded down $0.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $443.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,583,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,209,385. Linde plc has a one year low of $350.60 and a one year high of $477.71. The stock has a market cap of $213.43 billion, a PE ratio of 35.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50 day moving average of $456.06 and a 200-day moving average of $420.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.16 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Linde's payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Seaport Res Ptn cut Linde from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $510.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Linde from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $429.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at $26,058,131.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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