Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. trimmed its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 117,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,399 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Linde were worth $48,227,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Smith Salley & Associates grew its holdings in Linde by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Smith Salley & Associates now owns 52,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,421,000 after acquiring an additional 1,858 shares during the period. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $658,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its holdings in Linde by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 6,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,734,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Linde by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,948 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,443,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth approximately $206,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 over the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Trading Up 1.6 %

Linde stock traded up $7.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $464.70. 1,570,311 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,690,232. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $350.60 and a 52-week high of $477.71. The company has a market capitalization of $223.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.88, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $445.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $413.24.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.16 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. TD Cowen increased their price target on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $448.93.

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.