Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Buys 4,975 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 79.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,215 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,975 shares during the quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 16.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,389,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 543,857 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $259,344,000 after purchasing an additional 16,965 shares during the last quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its stake in Linde by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 940,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $448,344,000 after buying an additional 117,436 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Down 1.0 %

LIN stock opened at $462.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $218.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $441.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $455.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. 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 (DPR) is 44.09%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,285 shares of company stock worth $7,423,986. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on LIN. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

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.