Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 16.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 374,468 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 71,192 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Linde were worth $156,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Plancorp LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 1,199 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 45,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,894,000 after purchasing an additional 13,957 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 116.4% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 4,644 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,944,000 after purchasing an additional 2,498 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 712.2% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 8,642 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,618,000 after purchasing an additional 7,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Adams Natural Resources Fund Inc. now owns 69,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $458.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $452.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $454.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.68, a PEG 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 earnings per share 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.