Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) is Maren Capital LLC’s 7th Largest Position

Maren Capital LLC boosted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 221,326 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 25,950 shares during the period. Linde makes up about 7.1% of Maren Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Maren Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $92,663,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $252,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 163.1% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,090,000 after acquiring an additional 4,017 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Linde by 21.9% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 59,184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,647,000 after acquiring an additional 10,643 shares in the last quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 2,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 577 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Trading Down 6.3 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $437.96 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $207.12 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.25 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The business’s fifty day moving average is $458.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $453.85.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given 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 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.