Staley Capital Advisers Inc. Makes New $611,000 Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Staley Capital Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $611,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wrapmanager Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $709,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Fourpath Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Linde by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company raised its stake in Linde by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 2,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $841,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup lowered their price objective 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. Finally, TD Cowen raised 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $462.06 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $218.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.95, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $445.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $455.24. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. On average, analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

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.