Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Grove Bank & Trust

Grove Bank & Trust reduced its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 35 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Linde were worth $145,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 122.6% during the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on LIN. Mizuho upped their target price on Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $456.79.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $453.14 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $450.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $416.34. The firm has a market cap of $218.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. 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 owned by insiders.

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.