Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Sells 4,287 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP decreased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,287 shares during the quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s holdings in Linde were worth $14,309,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,057,000. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 203,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $85,018,000 after buying an additional 13,879 shares in the last quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $2,090,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 92,380 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,677,000 after buying an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DecisionMap Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $207,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. Citigroup decreased their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Stock Up 0.5 %

LIN stock opened at $453.26 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $447.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $455.12. 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 plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $214.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. 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. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,260,958.10. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $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 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.