Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 1,778 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,933 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,778 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Linde were worth $10,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LIN. Trillium Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 63,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 70,785 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,437 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in Linde in the 4th quarter worth approximately $17,876,000. Horizon Investments LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 12,710 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,321,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,095,000 after purchasing an additional 2,507 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Linde

In related news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.74, for a total value of $1,163,545.98. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $610,662. The trade was a 65.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total transaction of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of 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 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 three months. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded 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 research note on Monday, January 13th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three 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, Linde currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Linde Stock Performance

LIN opened at $460.71 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $450.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $454.57. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $410.69 and a 1 year high of $487.49. The stock has a market cap of $217.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 16.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

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

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.