Sunbelt Securities Inc. Sells 25 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. cut its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 439 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 25 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $183,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hanson & Doremus Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Linde by 34.2% during the fourth quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 98 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This trade represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $503.11.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $458.90 on Tuesday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $408.65 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company’s 50 day moving average is $451.26 and its 200 day moving average is $447.50. 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 company has a market cap of $216.02 billion, a PE ratio of 33.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.57%.

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.