GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Decreases Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA decreased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 39 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,382,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 4,382 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,835,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. First National Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 9,578 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,010,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the period. Glenview Trust co lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 10,762 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,506,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 511,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $213,374,000 after purchasing an additional 2,132 shares during the period. Finally, Ascent Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of LIN opened at $460.31 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 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $449.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $454.70. The firm has a market cap of $217.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.