FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co Reduces Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co cut its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 156 shares during the period. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in Linde were worth $895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wrapmanager Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $709,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company raised its position in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 2,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $841,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in Linde by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 16,285 shares of company stock worth $7,423,986. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $461.40 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $439.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $454.75. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $219.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 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%. Research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 40.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho upped 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

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.