Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Makes New Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 115,270 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,260,000. Linde makes up approximately 0.4% of Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 3,681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Linde by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 744,711 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $311,788,000 after acquiring an additional 11,252 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 2,775 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,162,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 32,315 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,529,000 after purchasing an additional 4,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $92,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $437.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.12 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The business has a 50-day moving average of $458.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $454.06.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde 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.