Lincoln Capital LLC Sells 135 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Lincoln Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 135 shares during the quarter. Linde comprises 1.2% of Lincoln Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Lincoln Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $5,837,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Linde by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $570,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Linde by 39.8% in the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,202 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,844,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Linde by 1.0% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 120,352 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp raised its holdings in Linde by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 2,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $957,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Linde by 30,250.0% during the 2nd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 5,463 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,397,000 after purchasing an additional 5,445 shares during the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Linde Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:LIN opened at $436.00 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $436.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $452.97. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $396.07 and a fifty-two week high of $487.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.61 billion, a PE ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $8.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LIN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen raised shares of Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Linde from $477.00 to $507.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $495.75.

Insider Transactions at Linde

In other news, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $441.34 per share, with a total value of $44,134.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $102,832.22. This represents a 75.19 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 directly owns 25,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by 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.