Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 11,596 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 27.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 11,596 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $12,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Howard Capital Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in Linde by 2.4% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,374,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,986,000 after purchasing an additional 56,775 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Linde by 50.0% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 249 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Linde by 3.1% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,736 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $828,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Linde during the third quarter valued at $1,280,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at $11,260,958.10. This trade represents a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,377 shares of company stock worth $6,567,231. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $451.17 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $410.69 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $213.36 billion, a PE ratio of 33.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day moving average is $447.04 and its 200 day moving average is $455.13.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on 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 increased their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.