Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 91,849 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 688,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 91,849 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.14% of Linde worth $288,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. lifted its position in Linde by 85.2% during the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Linde by 6.7% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,021 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Linde by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $625,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LIN. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 over the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Down 6.3 %

LIN opened at $437.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $207.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $458.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $454.06.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.