Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Gould Asset Management LLC CA

Gould Asset Management LLC CA lessened its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 659 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 30 shares during the quarter. Gould Asset Management LLC CA’s holdings in Linde were worth $271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,919,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,182,870,000 after purchasing an additional 354,506 shares during the last quarter. Winder Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,892,774,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Linde by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,081,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,891,976,000 after acquiring an additional 123,174 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Linde by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,960,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,102,475,000 after acquiring an additional 75,000 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,766,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,030,146,000 after acquiring an additional 9,541 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of LIN traded down $0.65 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $443.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,583,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,209,385. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $455.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $420.27. The stock has a market cap of $213.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $350.60 and a 52 week high of $477.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.16 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Linde’s payout ratio is 44.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Mizuho raised shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup downgraded 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 note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Company insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.