Summit Securities Group LLC Purchases New Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $459.11 on Friday. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $217.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $456.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $454.22.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup lowered 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. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 over the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.