Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Cuts Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 67.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,420 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,120 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Linde were worth $994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 122.6% in the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Provence Wealth Management Group acquired a new stake in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE increased its holdings in Linde by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $443.18 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $213.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 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. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $350.60 and a 1-year high of $477.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $456.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $420.75.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.16 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

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.