Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Stock Holdings Reduced by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. reduced its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,169,821 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 33,073 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for approximately 3.4% of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. owned 0.25% of Linde worth $489,769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,217,197,000 after buying an additional 154,792 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,901,853,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,300,092,000 after purchasing an additional 89,408 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Linde by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after purchasing an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Linde by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,680,279 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $703,482,000 after purchasing an additional 49,374 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Linde Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $459.11 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $456.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $454.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $217.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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, equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insider Transactions 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 2,477 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 transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.