Simplicity Solutions LLC Reduces Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Simplicity Solutions LLC trimmed its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,701 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 406 shares during the quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $575,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.9% in the third quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 4.2% in the third quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Citigroup lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded down $5.59 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $447.41. 1,976,740 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,267,283. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $215.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $450.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $415.72. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $350.60 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced 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. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.16 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 in the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.