Courier Capital LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Courier Capital LLC lessened its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,184 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 146 shares during the quarter. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $7,468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 1.9% in the third quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory increased its stake in Linde by 4.2% in the third quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas increased its stake in Linde by 7.0% in the third quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 411 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $153,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Linde by 12.8% in the second quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde by 2.3% in the third quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $465,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $466.23 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $436.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $409.21. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $344.56 and a 52 week high of $477.71. The stock has a market cap of $224.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.93.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be given a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Linde from $503.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $448.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total transaction of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.