Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 48.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,834 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 928 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 67,675 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,795,000 after buying an additional 2,797 shares during the period. Tranquility Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $206,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 58,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,998,000 after buying an additional 6,676 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 189 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guidance Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 1,457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $597,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $446.43. 1,070,326 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,256,902. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $452.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $417.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $350.60 and a 1-year high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This is an increase 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LIN. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Mizuho raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $456.79.

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.