Bank of Montreal Can Lowers Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Bank of Montreal Can reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,109,132 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 144,898 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Linde were worth $464,360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% in the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its position in Linde by 144.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’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 owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Stock Down 6.3 %

LIN stock opened at $437.96 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $207.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $458.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $453.85. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $410.25 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LIN. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Linde 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.