Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. Raises Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 169.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,633 shares during the quarter. Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,753,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Fulton Bank N.A. raised 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 increased its holdings in Linde by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 1,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its stake in Linde by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Linde by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RMR Wealth Builders lifted its holdings in Linde by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 3,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,594,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.11.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $452.56 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $213.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $452.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $448.55. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 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.