Stevens Capital Management LP Invests $430,000 in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 122.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its holdings in Linde by 42.2% in the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded down $0.65 during trading on Friday, hitting $443.18. The stock had a trading volume of 1,559,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,209,088. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $455.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $420.27. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $350.60 and a twelve month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. Linde’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.16 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $456.79.

About Linde

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.