Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Decreases Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lessened its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 266,862 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,769 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned 0.06% of Linde worth $111,727,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,217,197,000 after acquiring an additional 154,792 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 372.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,567,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Linde by 3.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 89,408 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Linde by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,680,279 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $703,482,000 after buying an additional 49,374 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LIN traded down $5.62 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $459.11. 1,334,712 shares of the stock were exchanged, 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 P/E/G 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 50 day simple moving average of $456.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $454.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other 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 directly owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % 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. Insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

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.