Maren Capital LLC Buys 25,950 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Maren Capital LLC increased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 221,326 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,950 shares during the period. Linde accounts for about 7.1% of Maren Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Maren Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $92,663,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $252,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 163.1% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,090,000 after buying an additional 4,017 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Linde by 21.9% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 59,184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,647,000 after acquiring an additional 10,643 shares in the last quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 10.5% in the third quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 2,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management boosted its position in Linde by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 577 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $437.96 on Monday. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.25 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $458.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $453.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a $1.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup decreased 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. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

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.