Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) VP Guillermo Bichara Sells 4,385 Shares

Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Linde Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:LIN traded up $0.86 on Friday, reaching $449.44. The stock had a trading volume of 2,179,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,849,467. The company has a market cap of $214.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm's fifty day moving average is $465.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $454.93.

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

Linde Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Linde's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Institutional Trading of Linde

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Kozak & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Linde in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on LIN shares. 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $490.75.

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.

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