American Century Companies Inc. Reduces Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 491,168 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 17,075 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.10% of Linde worth $205,637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 372.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,567,958,000 after buying an additional 2,592,682 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Linde by 56,467.9% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $459,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,041 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Linde by 2,293.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $327,593,000 after buying an additional 749,763 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $308,251,000. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its holdings in Linde by 467.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 827,979 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $374,780,000 after acquiring an additional 682,176 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

LIN traded up $3.30 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $464.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,492,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,726,069. The stock has a market cap of $219.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business's 50-day moving average price is $454.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $454.24.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde's payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

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.