Scotia Capital Inc. Sells 1,525 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Scotia Capital Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 13.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,827 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,525 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in Linde were worth $4,115,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,003,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,598,551,000 after acquiring an additional 30,750 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,901,853,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Linde by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,818,608 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,598,737,000 after purchasing an additional 265,455 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 3.0% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Linde by 2.2% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen raised shares of 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus upgraded Linde to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on 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, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $498.00.

Linde Trading Up 1.0 %

LIN stock traded up $4.55 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $452.54. 755,398 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,936,713. Linde plc has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.01 billion, a PE ratio of 33.21, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.89. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $455.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $451.54.

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, 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. 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 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Linde's payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company'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. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $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.