Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Sells 7,713 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lowered its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 97,240 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,713 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Linde were worth $40,711,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its position in shares of Linde by 144.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Kozak & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 38.6% in the fourth quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 97 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insider Activity at Linde

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 1.7 %

LIN opened at $454.07 on Wednesday. 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 50-day moving average is $446.39 and its 200 day moving average is $455.16. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.69 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.36, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share 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 expect 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 will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.09%.

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.