Fulton Bank N.A. Has $689,000 Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 231.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,148 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Linde were worth $689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its position in Linde by 144.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 133.3% in the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on LIN. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut 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. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $490.75.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $420.01 on Friday. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $440.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $453.31. The firm has a market cap of $199.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% 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.