Renasant Bank Purchases 648 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Renasant Bank grew its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 49.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the period. Renasant Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $817,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $5,217,197,000 after purchasing an additional 154,792 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 372.8% in the 3rd 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 worth $1,567,958,000 after buying an additional 2,592,682 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,300,092,000 after buying an additional 89,408 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in shares of Linde by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $453.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $447.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $455.12. The firm has a market cap of $214.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.09%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 the company’s 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.