Payden & Rygel Lowers Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Payden & Rygel lessened its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 23.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,400 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 10,000 shares during the quarter. Payden & Rygel's holdings in Linde were worth $13,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 144.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

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 shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business's 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 directly owns 14,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Linde Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ LIN traded down $7.48 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $438.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,546,060 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,920,814. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $457.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $452.58. 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 plc has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $207.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $1.50 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

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.