TD Asset Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

TD Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 784,622 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 34,314 shares during the quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.16% of Linde worth $328,498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,000. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its stake in Linde by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 39,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,445,000 after acquiring an additional 1,198 shares in the last quarter. Clune & Associates LTD. bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Price Performance

LIN opened at $459.09 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $217.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $453.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $454.18. Linde plc has a 12-month low of $410.69 and a 12-month high of $487.49.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. 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 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 $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company 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.