Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Sells 1,187 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC reduced its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,187 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $19,622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. raised its holdings in Linde by 85.2% during 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 buying an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Channel Wealth LLC increased its position in Linde by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 5,021 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $625,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ LIN opened at $457.45 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The firm has a market cap of $216.33 billion, a PE ratio of 33.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $454.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $454.19. 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 (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share 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%. Analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total value of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. 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. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

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.