Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Sciencast Management LP

Sciencast Management LP trimmed its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,676 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 156 shares during the period. Sciencast Management LP’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $54,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 48,144 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,156,000 after buying an additional 2,722 shares in the last quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC raised its position in Linde by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 5,577 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,335,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $224,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in Linde by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 113,525 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,528,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

Linde Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $458.33 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $452.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.49. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.