Cannon Advisors Inc. Sells 778 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cannon Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 20.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 778 shares during the period. Linde accounts for about 1.1% of Cannon Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Cannon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lokken Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Lokken Investment Group LLC now owns 2,630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. PFC Capital Group Inc. grew its stake in Linde by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. PFC Capital Group Inc. now owns 2,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,043,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Linde by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,598,551,000 after buying an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its position in Linde by 436.7% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 161 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tradewinds LLC. purchased a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $221,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $465.64 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $456.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $454.13. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.21, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This 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 hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. 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. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities 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.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

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.