Cooper Financial Group Grows Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cooper Financial Group boosted its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 16.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 834 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in Linde were worth $349,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $898,188,000 after purchasing an additional 46,843 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Linde by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,898,000 after buying an additional 5,021 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,580,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,215,000 after acquiring an additional 2,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waverton Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Linde by 0.9% during the third quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 196,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,457,000 after acquiring an additional 1,811 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $102,832.22. The trade was a 75.19 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on LIN. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho upped their price objective on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup reduced their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $427.29 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $438.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $453.08. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $396.07 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $203.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.44, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

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.