Vontobel Holding Ltd. Cuts Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. cut its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 632,501 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,990 shares during the period. Linde comprises approximately 1.3% of Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned about 0.13% of Linde worth $259,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Linde by 122.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Halpern Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 309.5% in the third quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 86 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related 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 transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Linde news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded down $5.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $447.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,976,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,267,283. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a one year low of $350.60 and a one year high of $477.71. The firm has a market cap of $215.46 billion, a PE ratio of 35.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $450.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $416.03.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $456.79.

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.