PFC Capital Group Inc. Has $1.04 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

PFC Capital Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. PFC Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,043,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 436.7% in the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 161 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds LLC. acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Cannell & Spears LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC now owns 1,469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $615,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 8,176 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,423,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $465.64 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $456.69 and a 200-day moving average of $454.13. 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 company has a market capitalization of $220.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup cut their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, 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 ninety days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.