FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Grows Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH increased its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 613 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Linde were worth $252,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Linde by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,470,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 14,642 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,966,000 after purchasing an additional 795 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Linde by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,149,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $471,992,000 after purchasing an additional 116,095 shares in the last quarter. First Merchants Corp lifted its holdings in Linde by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 20,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,261,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wallington Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 68,345 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,070,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $448.93.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $461.67 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $447.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $414.11. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The company has a market capitalization of $222.33 billion, a PE ratio of 36.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is 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.