CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. Sells 1,938 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 60.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,262 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,938 shares during the period. Linde accounts for about 0.8% of CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd.'s holdings in Linde were worth $602,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 22.2% in the second quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 838 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 109.1% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 983 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department raised its stake in shares of Linde by 15.4% in the second quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 1,763 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $774,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.2% during the second quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 2,573 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,129,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 6.7% during the second quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 4,875 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,139,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LIN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $490.75.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded up $0.86 on Friday, reaching $449.44. 2,190,567 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,909,659. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a one year low of $396.07 and a one year high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.00 billion, a PE ratio of 34.13, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.93. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $464.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $455.33.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.63 EPS. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP John Panikar sold 10,025 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.75, for a total transaction of $4,639,068.75. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,136,996. This represents a 36.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.