Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Sells 43,109 Shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 71.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 43,109 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $7,199,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Linde by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $575,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Linde by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Linde by 1.9% in the third quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory grew its stake in shares of Linde by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. increased its position in shares of Linde by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Comprehensive Financial Consultants Institutional Inc. now owns 2,573 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of LIN opened at $423.60 on Friday. Linde plc has a 1 year low of $350.60 and a 1 year high of $477.71. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $455.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $422.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $204.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Linde Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on LIN shares. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus cut 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. Wolfe Research began coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $460.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. White sold 51,231 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.84, for a total transaction of $23,353,139.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 57,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,271,882.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988 in the last quarter. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.