Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Sells 21,548 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lessened its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 73.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,873 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 21,548 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $3,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Linde by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Linde by 1.7% during the third quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Linde by 0.9% during the third quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Linde by 1.3% in the third quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $873,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 2.9% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 851 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Linde

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

Linde Stock Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $436.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $437.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $452.77. The stock has a market cap of $207.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a one year low of $396.07 and a one year high of $487.49.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lifted their price target on Linde from $520.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $495.75.

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.