Mather Group LLC. Sells 205 Shares of Linde plc (NYSE:LIN)

Mather Group LLC. lowered its holdings in shares of Linde plc (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,215 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 205 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Linde were worth $327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. TradeLink Capital LLC bought a new position in Linde during the first quarter worth $2,523,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its stake in Linde by 36.4% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 1,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $566,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Linde by 25.4% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $957,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its stake in Linde by 15.3% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,380 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $760,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC bought a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at $6,682,000. Institutional investors own 78.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 4,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.17, for a total value of $1,462,290.20. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,036,953.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 2.3 %

LIN opened at $342.44 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $168.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.51, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.84. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $262.47 and a twelve month high of $362.74. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $332.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $314.72.

Linde (NYSE:LIN – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported $3.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $7.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.49 billion. Linde had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 14.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Linde plc will post 13.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 14th will be given a $1.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 13th. This represents a $5.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.17. Linde’s payout ratio is 56.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $355.00 to $385.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $346.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Linde from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Linde from $375.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Linde has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $370.67.

About Linde

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Linde Plc is a global industrial gases and engineering company. It designs and builds equipment that produces industrial gases and offers customers a wide range of gas production and processing services such as olefin plants, natural gas plants, air separation plants, hydrogen and synthesis gas plants and other types of plants.