Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Sells 6,437 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 25.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,437 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Linde were worth $7,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LIN. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the third quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Nwam LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $495,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 6.6% in the third quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,493,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 212.0% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,000 after buying an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at $10,489,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN opened at $459.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $217.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $453.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $454.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. This is a boost 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.