Cullen Capital Management LLC Has $409,000 Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Cullen Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 976 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 24 shares during the period. Cullen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $409,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $92,000. KCM Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Linde by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,272,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Linde by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 795 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 2,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,188,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Linde during the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,685,000. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on LIN. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert L. Wood sold 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.26, for a total transaction of $1,323,154.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,013 shares in the company, valued at $6,393,571.38. This represents a 17.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Down 6.3 %

NASDAQ LIN opened at $437.96 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $207.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average of $458.22 and a 200-day moving average of $453.94. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $410.69 and a 1-year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. 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.