Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Sells 4,287 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lowered its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,287 shares during the period. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s holdings in Linde were worth $14,309,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. grew its position in Linde by 85.2% in the fourth quarter. Helios Capital Management PTE. Ltd. now owns 2,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,047,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Channel Wealth LLC grew its position in Linde by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Channel Wealth LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Linde by 6.7% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 79,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,021 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Linde by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,145,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $898,188,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new position in Linde in the fourth quarter valued at about $625,000. Institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Linde news, VP David P. Strauss sold 2,218 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.35, for a total value of $963,388.30. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,260,958.10. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.62, for a total value of $3,117,142.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,786,289.30. This trade represents a 31.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,377 shares of company stock valued at $6,567,231 over the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Linde Price Performance

Linde stock opened at $453.26 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $447.82 and its 200 day moving average is $455.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $214.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Linde plc has a one year low of $410.69 and a one year high of $487.49.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.93 by $0.04. Linde had a return on equity of 18.71% and a net margin of 19.89%. As a group, research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 16.54 EPS for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.39. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Linde’s payout ratio is currently 44.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LIN shares. TD Cowen upgraded Linde from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $480.00 to $515.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Linde from $490.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Linde in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned 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 $501.82.

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.