Markel Group Inc. Acquires 13,000 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Markel Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 168,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,000 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $70,337,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,217,197,000 after acquiring an additional 154,792 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 372.8% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,300,092,000 after acquiring an additional 89,408 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in Linde by 2.4% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Linde by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on LIN. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $462.06 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $445.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $455.24. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $218.51 billion, a PE ratio of 33.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.