Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 29,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,034,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 122.6% during the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Halpern Financial Inc. raised its position in Linde by 309.5% in the 3rd quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 86 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. Citigroup lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho lifted their target price on Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered 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. Wolfe Research began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lowered 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 report on Wednesday, March 27th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded down $5.59 during trading on Friday, reaching $447.41. 1,976,740 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,267,283. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.46 billion, a PE ratio of 35.51, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $350.60 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $450.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $415.72.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side 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 paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Linde’s payout ratio is 44.13%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last ninety days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Company 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.