Franklin Resources Inc. Trims Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,730,874 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 504,767 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.78% of Linde worth $1,562,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Linde during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $252,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter valued at $507,000. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 10,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,799,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. B&L Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the third quarter worth $208,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at about $1,629,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $6,786,289.30. This represents a 31.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,477 shares of Linde stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 1,300 shares in the company, valued at $610,662. This trade represents a 65.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,159 shares of company stock worth $5,603,843 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on LIN shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $501.82.

Linde Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN opened at $459.11 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $456.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $454.14. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $410.69 and a twelve month high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $217.12 billion, a PE ratio of 33.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a net margin of 19.89% and a return on equity of 18.71%. On average, equities analysts predict that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.09%.

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.