First Foundation Advisors Sells 1,683 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

First Foundation Advisors cut its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 16,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,683 shares during the quarter. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Linde were worth $7,028,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth $2,901,853,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Linde by 56,467.9% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $459,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,041 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 749,763 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $308,251,000. Finally, Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations purchased a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth about $306,585,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup lowered their price target on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the business’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 value of $1,323,154.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. This trade represents a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $439.94 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $208.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.32, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $408.65 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $457.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $452.58.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders 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 an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

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.