Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. Has $14.30 Million Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,827 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the period. Linde comprises 4.0% of Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $14,304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Winder Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,892,774,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $168,636,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 33,201.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $169,189,000 after purchasing an additional 410,705 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Linde by 17.8% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,592,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $973,865,000 after purchasing an additional 391,153 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 53.1% in the 3rd quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,033,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $384,681,000 after purchasing an additional 358,492 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded down $1.91 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $445.06. 1,464,431 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,229,750. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $454.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $419.43. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The company has a market cap of $214.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.47, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Mizuho raised Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.