Prudential PLC Cuts Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Prudential PLC trimmed its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 13,057 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,761 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth $252,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in Linde by 45.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 27,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $13,329,000 after buying an additional 8,714 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Linde by 163.1% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,090,000 after buying an additional 4,017 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Linde by 21.9% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 59,184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,647,000 after acquiring an additional 10,643 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DF Dent & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 10.5% during the third quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 2,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was 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 approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 6.3 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $437.96 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $458.22 and a 200 day moving average of $453.94. The company has a market capitalization of $207.12 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. 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.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $1.50 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price 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. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

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.