Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Cuts Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,686 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Linde were worth $15,478,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 104.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,672,000 after buying an additional 468,415 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 1,359 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth $1,821,000. Summit Trail Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 5,306 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,179,000 after buying an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 23,333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,583,000 after purchasing an additional 2,987 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock traded up $4.14 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $430.76. 899,832 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,210,125. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $455.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $423.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $207.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.10, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $350.60 and a 12-month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.42 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be given a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through 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 value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC decreased their price target on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered 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. Mizuho increased their price target on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $464.69.

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.