Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Linde plc (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) by 74.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,474 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Linde were worth $481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,135,152 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,487,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,061,754 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Linde by 16.1% during the second quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,078,119 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,460,112,000 after purchasing an additional 703,724 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Linde by 3.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,653,204 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,938,416,000 after purchasing an additional 689,308 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Linde by 6.0% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,587,362 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,315,068,000 after purchasing an additional 488,655 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 12.6% in the third quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,273,245 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,152,024,000 after buying an additional 479,117 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 4,060 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.17, for a total value of $1,462,290.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares in the company, valued at $3,036,953.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

Linde Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $338.81 on Tuesday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $334.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $316.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $262.47 and a 1-year high of $362.74. The firm has a market cap of $166.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.07, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.84.

Linde (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported $3.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.91 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $7.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.49 billion. Linde had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 14.95%. Linde's revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 13.37 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 14th will be issued a $1.275 dividend. This represents a $5.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. This is an increase from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.17. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 13th. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on LIN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $355.00 to $385.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Linde from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $355.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Linde from $370.00 to $378.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Linde from $346.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $370.67.

Linde Company Profile

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Linde Plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It designs and builds equipment that produces industrial gases and offers customers a wide range of gas production and processing services such as olefin plants, natural gas plants, air separation plants, hydrogen and synthesis gas plants and other types of plants.

Read More

• Get a free copy of the StockNews.com research report on Linde (LIN)
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