CoreFirst Bank & Trust Invests $84,000 in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its position in Linde by 144.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $457.45 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $454.32 and a 200-day moving average of $454.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $216.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LIN shares. 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 report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.