PGGM Investments Purchases 142,200 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

PGGM Investments lifted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 344.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 183,478 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 142,200 shares during the period. Linde makes up about 1.1% of PGGM Investments’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. PGGM Investments’ holdings in Linde were worth $75,356,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 2.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,919,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,182,870,000 after buying an additional 354,506 shares during the period. Winder Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,892,774,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Linde by 2.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,081,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,891,976,000 after buying an additional 123,174 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Linde by 2.6% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,960,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,102,475,000 after buying an additional 75,000 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 0.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,766,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,030,146,000 after purchasing an additional 9,541 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $456.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock traded down $0.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $443.18. The stock had a trading volume of 1,583,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,507,545. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $350.60 and a 52 week high of $477.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $456.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $420.75.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Linde’s payout ratio is 44.13%.

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.