Estabrook Capital Management Cuts Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Estabrook Capital Management lowered its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 46.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,327 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,140 shares during the quarter. Estabrook Capital Management's holdings in Linde were worth $556,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,598,551,000 after buying an additional 30,750 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $2,901,853,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Linde by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,818,608 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,598,737,000 after purchasing an additional 265,455 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Linde by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,105,290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,300,092,000 after buying an additional 89,408 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Linde by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $898,188,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN traded up $1.49 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $443.32. The company had a trading volume of 482,698 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,932,325. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $408.65 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $209.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.57, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average of $456.29 and a 200-day moving average of $451.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, 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 sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective 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, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $498.00.

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.