Sigma Planning Corp Reduces Holdings in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sigma Planning Corp lessened its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 52.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,049 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,166 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Linde were worth $431,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Linde by 122.6% during the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new stake in shares of Linde during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its stake in shares of Linde by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LIN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their target price on Linde from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $456.79.

Linde Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of LIN stock opened at $443.18 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.43 billion, a PE ratio of 35.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $350.60 and a 1-year high of $477.71. The business has a 50-day moving average of $456.06 and a 200 day moving average of $420.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Linde news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total value of $23,353,139.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total value of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 56,398 shares in the company, valued at $26,058,131.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.