Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by United Asset Strategies Inc.

United Asset Strategies Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 424 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,334,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TradeLink Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the first quarter worth $2,523,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 36.4% during the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 1,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $566,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $957,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in Linde by 15.3% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,380 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth about $6,682,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $444.48. The stock had a trading volume of 447,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,271,539. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $451.50 and its 200-day moving average is $416.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.16 earnings per share. Research analysts predict 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 was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on LIN. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered 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 report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was 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 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over 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.