Barings LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Barings LLC lessened its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 19.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,631 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 11,195 shares during the period. Linde makes up approximately 0.5% of Barings LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Barings LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $19,104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wrapmanager Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 2,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $841,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231 in the last three months. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Stock Up 0.6 %

Linde stock opened at $468.77 on Friday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $444.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $455.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.44, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

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.