Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 589 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,090 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 589 shares during the quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Linde were worth $7,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Linde by 122.6% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its position in shares of Linde by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $53,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at $26,271,882.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Linde stock traded down $0.74 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $444.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,968,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,226,559. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $350.60 and a 52 week high of $477.71. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $455.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $420.11. The company has a market capitalization of $213.97 billion, a PE ratio of 35.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Six 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $456.79.

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.