Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Has $479,000 Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 41.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,164 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in Linde were worth $479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Linde by 122.6% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its stake in Linde by 42.2% during the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $53,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $456.79.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $442.02 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The stock has a market cap of $212.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $453.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $418.89.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

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.