Townsquare Capital LLC Cuts Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Townsquare Capital LLC lessened its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,006 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 598 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,771,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wrapmanager Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC grew its stake in Linde by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA raised its stake in shares of Linde by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA now owns 4,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,732,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LIN. Argus upgraded Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup lowered their target price on 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 boosted their price target for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $498.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,571.38. The trade was a 17.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents 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 sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Linde Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $446.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $456.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $451.57. Linde plc has a one year low of $408.65 and a one year high of $487.49. The company has a market capitalization of $210.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.77, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $1.50 dividend. 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 yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

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.