Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $7.84 Million Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 25.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,719 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 6,437 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in Linde were worth $7,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 85.2% in the 4th quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,047,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Channel Wealth LLC grew its position in Linde by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Linde by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,898,000 after buying an additional 5,021 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Linde by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $898,188,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $625,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business'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 sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut their price target 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 raised shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company 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 and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $5.62 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $459.11. The stock had a trading volume of 1,334,712 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,876,018. The stock has a market capitalization of $217.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 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 firm's fifty day simple moving average is $456.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $454.22.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. This is a boost from Linde's previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Linde 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.