Korea Investment CORP Acquires 73,423 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Korea Investment CORP grew its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 26.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 347,057 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 73,423 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Linde were worth $145,302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $461.43 on Thursday. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $454.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $454.24. The firm has a market cap of $218.22 billion, a PE ratio of 33.90, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. 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 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

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.