West Family Investments Inc. Sells 32 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

West Family Investments Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 32 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter worth $252,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its holdings in Linde by 2.4% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after acquiring an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 4.7% during the third quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 891 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $425,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at about $204,000. Finally, Maia Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at about $208,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, 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 value of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $466.16 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $443.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $455.24. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.25, a P/E/G 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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

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.