Janus Henderson Group PLC Has $627.71 Million Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Janus Henderson Group PLC cut its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 21.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,499,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 419,417 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $627,713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 193.9% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 47,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $19,794,000 after purchasing an additional 31,194 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC raised its holdings in Linde by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC now owns 1,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $441,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Gen Wealth Partners Inc lifted its position in Linde by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,745 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $731,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 24,547 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,277,000 after acquiring an additional 567 shares during the period. Finally, Fosun International Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.11.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $452.56 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $452.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $448.35. The firm has a market cap of $213.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.25, a P/E/G 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 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The business had revenue of $8.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.75 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.57%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 over the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.