Bedrijfstakpensioenfonds Voor DE Media PNO Has $7 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bedrijfstakpensioenfonds Voor DE Media PNO lowered its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,700 shares during the period. Bedrijfstakpensioenfonds Voor DE Media PNO’s holdings in Linde were worth $6,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Kozak & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted 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 in the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1,733.3% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the sale, the vice president now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $442.46 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $436.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $453.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $210.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.60, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

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.