Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Decreases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 43,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,112 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Linde were worth $18,240,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $252,000. Hancock Whitney Corp grew its stake in Linde by 12.7% during the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 2,457 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Associated Banc Corp bought a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $202,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $507,000. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Linde by 2,191.7% in the 3rd quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on LIN. Citigroup reduced their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN stock opened at $461.43 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $454.99 and a 200 day moving average of $454.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Linde Company 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.