Cambridge Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cambridge Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 17,796 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,451,000. Linde makes up approximately 3.1% of Cambridge Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Allstate Corp increased its stake in Linde by 2,958.1% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 14,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,953,000 after purchasing an additional 13,755 shares in the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS lifted its position in shares of Linde by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 94,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,426,000 after buying an additional 3,240 shares in the last quarter. Alerus Financial NA boosted its position in Linde by 355.4% in the fourth quarter. Alerus Financial NA now owns 5,857 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,452,000 after purchasing an additional 4,571 shares during the last quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Linde by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,669 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,630,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 48,459 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,231,000 after purchasing an additional 3,390 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $459.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $217.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $456.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.28.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $1.50 dividend. 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 yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.