Ballentine Partners LLC Has $2.79 Million Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Ballentine Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,664 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 45 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,790,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 144.8% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in Linde by 1,733.3% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on LIN. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $436.00 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $436.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $453.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $396.07 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $207.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. Linde’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.63 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 15.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.