Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA

First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA cut its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 70.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 483 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,150 shares during the period. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA’s holdings in Linde were worth $202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Linde by 61.9% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 409,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $171,379,000 after purchasing an additional 156,454 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Linde by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 42,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,791,000 after buying an additional 1,532 shares during the last quarter. Finward Bancorp bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter worth $268,000. Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 300.3% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 26,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,948,000 after acquiring an additional 19,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,239,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Argus raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $498.00.

Linde Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $452.12 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.22, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $455.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $451.37.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a $1.50 dividend. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.09%.

Linde Company 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.