Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Washington Trust Advisors Inc.

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 31 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $222,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in Linde by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,692,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $644,986,000 after buying an additional 14,969 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP bought a new position in Linde in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,044,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,600,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd grew its holdings in Linde by 156.3% in the 4th quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 10,121 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,146,000 after buying an additional 6,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,679,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN traded down $1.56 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $464.67. The company had a trading volume of 882,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,398,328. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $348.38 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.78 billion, a PE ratio of 37.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $436.71 and its 200-day moving average is $409.21.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for 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%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $448.93.

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.