Prudential Financial Inc. Trims Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Prudential Financial Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 31.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 70,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 32,977 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $29,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LIN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 372.8% in the third 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 worth $1,567,958,000 after acquiring an additional 2,592,682 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Linde by 56,467.9% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,097,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,041 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Linde by 2,293.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 782,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $327,593,000 after purchasing an additional 749,763 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $308,251,000. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 467.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 827,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $374,780,000 after purchasing an additional 682,176 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on LIN shares. Citigroup cut 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. 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Three equities 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $501.82.

Linde Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of LIN opened at $457.45 on Wednesday. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $454.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.19.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. 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 1.31%. Linde’s payout ratio is 44.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of Linde stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. The trade was a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total transaction of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Company 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.