National Bank of Canada FI Trims Stock Position in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

National Bank of Canada FI reduced its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 42.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,818 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 24,329 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Linde were worth $13,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LIN. Provence Wealth Management Group raised its stake in shares of Linde by 655.7% during the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Linde in the 4th quarter valued at about $203,000. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,600,000. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $1,480,000. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $2,045,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LIN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $464.69.

Linde Stock Down 0.5 %

LIN opened at $427.71 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $205.59 billion, a PE ratio of 33.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.91. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $454.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $424.19.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 43.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were 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 owns 57,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 77,948 shares of company stock valued at $35,687,605. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

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.