Principal Securities Inc. Invests $2.29 Million in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,583 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $2,293,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Provence Wealth Management Group increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 655.7% in the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 597 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the period. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,600,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,480,000. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,045,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of LIN traded up $4.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $434.39. 1,234,455 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,847,195. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $453.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $424.26. The stock has a market cap of $208.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $350.60 and a twelve month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.42 EPS. Linde's revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Linde's payout ratio is 43.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on LIN. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, HSBC dropped their target price on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Six investment 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 stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $464.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,271,882.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 77,948 shares of company stock valued at $35,687,605. Insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

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.

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