Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Increases Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $10,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Winder Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth about $1,892,774,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth about $168,636,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Linde by 33,201.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $169,189,000 after buying an additional 410,705 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Linde by 17.8% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,592,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $973,865,000 after buying an additional 391,153 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its position in Linde by 53.1% during the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,033,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $384,681,000 after buying an additional 358,492 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group downgraded 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 report on Wednesday, March 27th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Linde Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $0.40 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $444.23. 798,036 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,199,173. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $213.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $455.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $420.27.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.16 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given 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 1.25%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.13%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last ninety days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.