Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC

Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC cut its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,669 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,083 shares during the period. Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $9,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at about $1,023,000. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at about $590,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Linde by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 644 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $270,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Linde by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,848 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,448,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Linde by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after purchasing an additional 46,843 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Linde Trading Up 1.5 %

Linde stock opened at $454.95 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $453.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $449.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.43, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. The firm had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.