Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Grows Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,987 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,735 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $10,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 1.4% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 3.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.4% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Linde by 2.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $466.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $220.45 billion, a PE ratio of 34.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $443.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $455.24. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

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%. Analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. 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 1.29%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.