Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 32,977 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Prudential Financial Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 31.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 70,449 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 32,977 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $29,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. boosted its stake 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 last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC grew its stake in Linde by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,092,000 after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Linde by 6.7% in the third 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 stake 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 period. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $625,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Linde Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Linde stock traded down $5.62 on Friday, hitting $459.11. The stock had a trading volume of 1,334,712 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,876,018. 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 plc has a one year low of $410.69 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $456.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $454.28. The stock has a market cap of $217.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is 44.09%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, 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 transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. Company 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.