National Bank of Canada FI Lowers Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

National Bank of Canada FI trimmed its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 54,896 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 4,288 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI's holdings in Linde were worth $22,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,901,853,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Linde by 56,467.9% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $459,692,000 after buying an additional 1,096,041 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2,293.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $327,593,000 after buying an additional 749,763 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $308,251,000. Finally, Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $306,585,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN stock traded up $5.42 on Tuesday, reaching $431.28. The company had a trading volume of 978,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,899,692. The business's 50-day moving average is $457.95 and its 200 day moving average is $453.54. Linde plc has a one year low of $410.69 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.96 billion, a PE ratio of 31.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. Equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In other news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % 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 worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.