Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Takes Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 1,160.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates lifted its stake in Linde by 144.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 over the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Linde Stock Performance

LIN stock opened at $458.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $216.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $452.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $454.35. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. 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 yield of 1.31%. Linde’s payout ratio is 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.