Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. cut its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 24.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 22,380 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Linde were worth $28,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. TradeLink Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde during the first quarter worth about $2,523,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in Linde by 36.4% during the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 1,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $566,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Linde by 15.3% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,380 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the first quarter valued at approximately $6,682,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Linde Price Performance

Shares of LIN opened at $446.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $214.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day moving average is $453.89 and its 200-day moving average is $418.61. Linde plc has a fifty-two week low of $350.60 and a fifty-two week high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $1.39 dividend. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s payout ratio is presently 44.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Oliver Pfann sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.61, for a total value of $124,383.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on LIN. TD Cowen raised their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Linde in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $456.79.

Linde 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.