Sivia Capital Partners LLC Sells 60 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sivia Capital Partners LLC reduced its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,251 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 60 shares during the quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Linde by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,973,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,217,197,000 after purchasing an additional 154,792 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Linde by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,449,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,513,551,000 after buying an additional 15,187 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Linde by 372.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,288,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,567,958,000 after buying an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Linde by 7.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,112,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,365,647,000 after buying an additional 218,746 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Linde by 1.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,015,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,438,154,000 after acquiring an additional 50,882 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Guillermo Bichara sold 4,385 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $460.73, for a total transaction of $2,020,301.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 22,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,493,586.48. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of Linde stock traded up $7.12 during trading on Monday, hitting $421.27. The stock had a trading volume of 1,342,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,298,786. The firm has a market cap of $200.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $396.07 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The business’s 50-day moving average is $439.96 and its 200 day moving average is $453.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.89 by $0.05. Linde had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 18.16%. The business had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. Linde’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen raised 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Five 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

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.