Agate Pass Investment Management LLC Sells 215 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Agate Pass Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,949 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 215 shares during the period. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $908,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LIN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,901,853,000. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $2,128,233,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,547,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,834,631,000 after buying an additional 2,957,604 shares during the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter worth $468,360,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 56,467.9% in 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 buying an additional 1,096,041 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LIN. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Argus raised shares of Linde to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $503.11.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock opened at $464.08 on Friday. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $408.65 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $451.64 and a 200-day moving average of $447.79. 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, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $3.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.03. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. The company had revenue of $8.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.57%.

Insider Activity

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 1,987 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.04, for a total transaction of $908,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,346,928.56. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 7,261 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.42, for a total transaction of $3,314,065.62. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,720,279.42. The trade was a 47.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,725 shares of company stock valued at $5,385,750. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.