FIL Ltd Reduces Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

FIL Ltd decreased its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,178,434 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 986 shares during the period. FIL Ltd owned about 0.25% of Linde worth $493,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after purchasing an additional 30,750 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at $2,901,853,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,818,608 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,598,737,000 after acquiring an additional 265,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 3.0% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 89,408 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Argus raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $498.00.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded up $9.95 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $441.83. 3,342,916 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,937,907. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $456.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $451.80. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $208.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share 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, analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. This is a positive change from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.