Wallington Asset Management LLC Has $28.07 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Wallington Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 68,345 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the period. Linde accounts for approximately 4.7% of Wallington Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $28,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 122.6% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 309.5% in the third quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 86 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded up $7.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $464.70. 1,570,311 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,690,232. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $445.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $413.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $448.93.

Linde Company 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.