Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) Shares Sold by Van Cleef Asset Management Inc

Van Cleef Asset Management Inc cut its position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 50,364 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Linde makes up about 2.9% of Van Cleef Asset Management Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Linde were worth $20,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Winder Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth $1,892,774,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Linde in the third quarter valued at $168,636,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 33,201.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $169,189,000 after buying an additional 410,705 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 17.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,592,343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $973,865,000 after buying an additional 391,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Linde by 53.1% in the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,033,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $384,681,000 after buying an additional 358,492 shares in the last quarter. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on LIN shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Citigroup lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $456.79.

Linde Stock Performance

NASDAQ LIN traded down $0.49 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $443.83. 1,390,610 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,217,092. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $455.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $420.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93.

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

Linde Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of Linde stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock worth $35,811,988. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

About Linde

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.