Connable Office Inc. Trims Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Connable Office Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,260 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 216 shares during the period. Connable Office Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $4,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 85.2% during the 4th quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after buying an additional 1,723 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after buying an additional 5,021 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in 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 worth $898,188,000 after purchasing an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $625,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $467.05 on Friday. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a market cap of $222.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $440.68 and a 200-day moving average of $454.93.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds acquired 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,285 shares of company stock worth $7,423,986 over the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

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.