Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 275 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Sentry Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,559 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 275 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $1,051,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Linde by 122.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group purchased a new stake in Linde in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. FWL Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Linde Stock Down 0.6 %

LIN traded down $2.56 during trading on Monday, reaching $444.85. The stock had a trading volume of 557,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,281,125. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $450.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $416.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $214.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a one year low of $350.60 and a one year high of $477.71.

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. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Linde had a return on equity of 17.06% and a net margin of 18.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.16 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is an increase from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is 44.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total transaction of $6,030,344.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,920 shares in the company, valued at $3,177,248.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,809,695.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Juergen Nowicki sold 13,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.14, for a total value of $6,030,344.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,177,248.80. 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. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LIN. Citigroup lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research began coverage on Linde in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, UBS Group lowered Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Linde currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $456.79.

Linde Company 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.