First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Has $4.51 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,253 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,512,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Winder Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at $1,892,774,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at $168,636,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Linde by 33,201.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $169,189,000 after acquiring an additional 410,705 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Linde by 17.8% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,592,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $973,865,000 after acquiring an additional 391,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in Linde by 53.1% during the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,033,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $384,681,000 after acquiring an additional 358,492 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen raised their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $460.00.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded up $1.66 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $442.62. 1,824,141 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,192,882. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $213.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $456.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $422.26. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. Linde’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.