Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Trims Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA trimmed its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 14.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,302,428 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,276,323 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises 1.0% of Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 1.53% of Linde worth $3,057,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wrapmanager Inc. increased its position in Linde by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $709,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Linde by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Concord Asset Management LLC VA raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 4,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,732,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $467.09 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a 52 week low of $410.69 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $457.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $454.12. The company has a market cap of $220.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.32, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS 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%. Research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % 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 valued at $5,603,843 in the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on LIN shares. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Linde has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $501.82.

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.