Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 1,449 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Yousif Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 91,370 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,449 shares during the period. Linde makes up about 0.4% of Yousif Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $37,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Winder Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,892,774,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter worth about $168,636,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Linde by 33,201.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $169,189,000 after acquiring an additional 410,705 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Linde by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,592,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $973,865,000 after acquiring an additional 391,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its position in Linde by 53.1% in the 3rd quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,033,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $384,681,000 after acquiring an additional 358,492 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.4 %

LIN traded down $1.91 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $445.06. The company had a trading volume of 1,464,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,229,750. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $350.60 and a 12 month high of $477.71. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $455.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $419.93. The company has a market cap of $214.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Linde 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.