Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Acquired by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,830,970 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 64,362 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.58% of Linde worth $1,162,708,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LIN. Citigroup downgraded shares of Linde from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. HSBC dropped their price target on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $464.69.

Linde Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded down $2.29 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $427.71. The company had a trading volume of 1,344,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,208,454. The business's 50-day moving average is $454.81 and its 200-day moving average is $424.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $350.60 and a 52 week high of $477.71. The stock has a market cap of $205.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.38 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.