Bailard Inc. Has $9.66 Million Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bailard Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,511 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 264 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $9,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 122.6% during the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. TD Cowen upped their price target on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.74 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $444.32. The stock had a trading volume of 1,968,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,226,559. The stock has a market cap of $213.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $455.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $420.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $350.60 and a 12-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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.16 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. 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%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.