Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Acquired by First Manhattan CO. LLC.

First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 607,856 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 947 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises 0.8% of First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. First Manhattan CO. LLC. owned 0.13% of Linde worth $258,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 231.0% in the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 1,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its stake in Linde by 24.0% during the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 1,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Linde by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 3,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,594,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.11.

Linde Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $453.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $213.35 billion, a PE ratio of 33.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $452.32 and a 200 day moving average of $448.76. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $408.65 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

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.