King Luther Capital Management Corp Sells 2,804 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lowered its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 492,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,804 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned approximately 0.10% of Linde worth $206,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Wrapmanager Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA increased its position in shares of Linde by 0.5% during 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. Fourpath Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company increased its position in shares of Linde by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 2,009 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $841,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Linde by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 1.4 %

Linde stock opened at $462.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $218.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.95, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $445.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $455.24. Linde plc has a 12 month low of $410.69 and a 12 month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. Equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LIN. Citigroup dropped their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Linde presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $501.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total transaction of $963,388.30. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds purchased 100 shares of Linde stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.60% 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.