Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Position Trimmed by First National Bank of Hutchinson

First National Bank of Hutchinson lowered its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 24.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 230 shares during the quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson’s holdings in Linde were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,470,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 14,642 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,966,000 after buying an additional 795 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,149,211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $471,992,000 after buying an additional 116,095 shares in the last quarter. First Merchants Corp boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 20,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,261,000 after acquiring an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wallington Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 68,345 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,070,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Linde from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $448.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, 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 the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN traded down $4.25 on Monday, hitting $460.45. The company had a trading volume of 152,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,314,348. The stock has a market cap of $221.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.88, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $445.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $413.48. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $350.60 and a 1-year high of $477.71.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $1.39 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.13%.

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.