Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 14.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,302,428 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,276,323 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises approximately 1.0% of Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 1.53% of Linde worth $3,057,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wrapmanager Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC grew its position in Linde by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Concord Asset Management LLC VA raised its position in Linde by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,999,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,732,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $29.26 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $437.96. 4,430,744 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,894,257. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $207.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm's 50-day moving average is $458.22 and its 200-day moving average is $453.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Linde's payout ratio is 44.09%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. This trade 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 valued at $5,603,843 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Linde has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $501.82.

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.