DLK Investment Management LLC Increases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

DLK Investment Management LLC grew its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,837 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. DLK Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 372.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,567,958,000 after acquiring an additional 2,592,682 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 47,830.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $446,377,000 after purchasing an additional 934,123 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Linde by 2,293.0% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $327,593,000 after purchasing an additional 749,763 shares during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in Linde by 108.7% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $374,086,000 after purchasing an additional 408,659 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in Linde by 131.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 621,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $296,342,000 after buying an additional 353,136 shares during the last quarter. 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. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $436.00 on Monday. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $436.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $452.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.61 billion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.