Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Triangle Securities Wealth Management

Triangle Securities Wealth Management decreased its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 148 shares during the quarter. Triangle Securities Wealth Management’s holdings in Linde were worth $2,259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 372.8% during the third 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. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Linde by 47,830.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 936,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $446,377,000 after purchasing an additional 934,123 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Linde by 2,293.0% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in Linde by 108.7% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 784,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $374,086,000 after buying an additional 408,659 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Linde by 131.6% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 621,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $296,342,000 after buying an additional 353,136 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

Linde Price Performance

LIN stock opened at $436.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $436.85 and a 200-day moving average of $452.82. The company has a market cap of $207.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $396.07 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.89 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 18.16% and a net margin of 19.33%. Linde’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Linde

In related news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $441.34 per share, for a total transaction of $44,134.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $102,832.22. This trade represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total value of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Linde Profile

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.