Rockland Trust Co. Lowers Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Rockland Trust Co. reduced its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,704 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,581 shares during the quarter. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Linde were worth $11,599,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $652,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Linde by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other Linde news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $495.75.

Linde Stock Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $427.29 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $396.07 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $203.46 billion, a PE ratio of 32.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average is $438.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $453.08.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Linde 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.