Kimelman & Baird LLC Has $13.75 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Kimelman & Baird LLC grew its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 32,837 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,105 shares during the period. Linde comprises approximately 1.1% of Kimelman & Baird LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Kimelman & Baird LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $13,748,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its position in Linde by 144.8% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $455.50 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $448.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $454.78. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $215.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. This is a positive change 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 is currently 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now 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 a total of 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.