SGL Investment Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 586 Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

SGL Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 586 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $269,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. grew its position in Linde by 85.2% during the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,047,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Channel Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in Linde by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 211,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $88,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at $625,000. Finally, Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,571 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,842,000 after purchasing an additional 2,292 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on LIN. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $503.11.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $2.56 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $460.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,618,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,943,733. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $451.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $447.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $216.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.75 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.57%.

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.