Whittier Trust Co. Purchases 597 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,525 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 597 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Linde were worth $47,528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,217,197,000 after buying an additional 154,792 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 372.8% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,567,958,000 after acquiring an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Linde by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,300,092,000 after purchasing an additional 89,408 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Linde by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after purchasing an additional 46,843 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,680,279 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $703,482,000 after purchasing an additional 49,374 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup dropped their price target 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 lifted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 value of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $459.75 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $451.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $454.61. The firm has a market cap of $217.42 billion, a PE ratio of 33.78, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. 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.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

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.