Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by State of Michigan Retirement System

State of Michigan Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 134,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Linde were worth $56,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its holdings in Linde by 144.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 38.6% in the 4th quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 97 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $462.25 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $441.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $455.03. The company has a market capitalization of $218.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,285 shares of company stock worth $7,423,986. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.