Van ECK Associates Corp Trims Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 20.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,890 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,411 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $6,937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Winder Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,892,774,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $168,636,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Linde by 33,201.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $169,189,000 after acquiring an additional 410,705 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Linde by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,592,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $973,865,000 after acquiring an additional 391,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Linde by 53.1% during the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,033,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $384,681,000 after buying an additional 358,492 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other Linde news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $423.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $455.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $422.38. The company has a market capitalization of $204.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LIN shares. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $460.15.

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.