Martin Currie Ltd. Sells 23,455 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Martin Currie Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 299,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 23,455 shares during the quarter. Linde accounts for 4.6% of Martin Currie Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Martin Currie Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of Linde worth $125,344,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Linde by 1,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 63 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 144.8% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 71 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Linde Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Linde stock opened at $459.11 on Friday. Linde plc has a 52-week low of $410.69 and a 52-week high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $217.12 billion, a PE ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $456.09 and a 200-day moving average of $454.22. 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 earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s payout ratio is 44.09%.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. This represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,159 shares of company stock valued at $5,603,843. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.