Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Boosts Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 204,327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,177 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s holdings in Linde were worth $85,546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,023,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 6.6% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 2,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,350,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at $590,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in Linde by 215.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 7,619 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,633,000 after acquiring an additional 5,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,024 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,549,000 after acquiring an additional 2,381 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $448.05 on Friday. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $453.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $449.88. The company has a market cap of $211.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.92, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion during 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.75 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Argus upgraded 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, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $498.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.