Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Buys 311 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were 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 directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.4 %

Linde stock opened at $457.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $454.32 and a 200 day simple 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. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LIN. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded 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 research note on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

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.