PGGM Investments Has $63.36 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

PGGM Investments lessened its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 151,346 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,036 shares during the period. PGGM Investments’ holdings in Linde were worth $63,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. increased its holdings in Linde by 85.2% during the 4th quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after buying an additional 1,723 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.7% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after buying an additional 5,021 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Linde by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $898,188,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $625,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231 in the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock opened at $451.17 on Thursday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $213.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day moving average is $447.04 and its 200-day moving average is $455.13.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.