S&CO Inc. Has $11.02 Million Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

S&CO Inc. grew its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,324 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. S&CO Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $11,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 85.2% in the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Linde by 6.7% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after buying an additional 5,021 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Linde by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $625,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Insider Activity

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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Down 1.4 %

LIN stock opened at $462.06 on Tuesday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $445.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $455.24. Linde plc has a one year low of $410.69 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $218.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.