Simmons Bank Sells 90 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Simmons Bank cut its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 90 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,716,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Annapolis Financial Services LLC lifted 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its position in Linde by 310.0% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 347.6% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 94 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded down $2.08 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $427.92. 892,662 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,203,138. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.27, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $454.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $424.19.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.5 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $464.69.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.