IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Decreases Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd cut its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 16.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 781 shares during the quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,712,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $252,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Linde during the third quarter valued at $507,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 2,191.7% in the third quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in Linde by 16.8% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 17,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,556,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on LIN shares. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was 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 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Trading Up 0.7 %

Linde stock opened at $464.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $219.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.15, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $455.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $454.31.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.